Confession
by eaglefan101
Summary: It's been over a year since the incident on Kaine Island, and Sly is feeling guilty about lying to Carmelita. He wants her to know the truth. He wants to confess. Little does he know that the result will prove to be much worse than he had anticipated.
1. Chapter 1: Guilt and Fear

_Hey all! Say hello to my first fanfic! This little story has been floating around in my head for a while, and I finally decided to try and write it down. And I'm even sharing it with you! What's wrong with me? I must be out of my mind to post this. Eh, whatever._

_This little fic is inspired by many Sly Cooper fics I have read over the past few weeks. After reading them I finally decided to try and write my own. Anyways, whether you think it's good or not, here's my very first fanfic. And I intend to finish it! It's all downhill from here people!_

_I'd appreciate it if you guys send me some reviews, seeing as how I'm a first timer. I'd like to see what other people think of my writing. I appreciate all reviews, good or bad! Just don't be too harsh on me!_

_I don't think I need to tell you this, but major Sly 3 spoilers ahead._

_Enjoy! Or don't! It's your choice after all._

--

**Chapter 1: Guilt and Fear**

It was getting late, and most people had already turned off their lights and went to sleep. Though it was night, the full moon, as well as the many stars in the sky, illuminated the streets of Paris. There wasn't even any need for the streetlights to be on. Anyone could see perfectly well without them. Out on the balcony of one of the many rooms in an apartment building stood a raccoon staring up at the night sky, thinking.

Sly had always loved the night. Being a nocturnal master thief does that. Though, he wasn't the infamous master thief Sly Cooper anymore. No. He was Constable Sly Cooper of Interpol, who suffered from amnesia after a terrible accident. This was who he now was, or at least, was supposed to be. He wasn't supposed to remember his thieving ways. He wasn't supposed to remember that he used to be one of the most wanted criminals at Interpol. But he did remember. In fact, he never even had amnesia. It was a lie. Not to keep himself out of jail, but to go after the one treasure he always wanted. A certain inspector by the name of Carmelita Montoya Fox.

It had been a little over a year since the incident on Kaine Island. After the accident that caused his "amnesia," Carmelita had enrolled him into Interpol as a constable. It wasn't easy convincing Chief Barkley that it was a good idea, but she somehow managed to pull it off. The Chief reluctantly pardoned Sly Cooper of all his crimes due to his amnesia. However, he told Carmelita that Sly was her responsibility, and assigned him as her partner. If anything went wrong, it was her ass on the line. Sly knew this, and did everything he could to become the best damn cop there was. It wasn't as hard as he thought it would be though. He was quite athletic from being a thief almost his whole life, which proved to be extremely helpful. He knew how other criminals thought, seeing as how he used to be one, and his recon skills turned out to be very useful when it came to the many cases he had worked on with Carmelita.

Seeing as how he didn't have any place to live after the accident, Carmelita offered to let him stay in her apartment. She had a spare bedroom after all. Of course, Sly accepted her offer. While not on duty, Sly and Carmelita spent time together, just as friends. They didn't really go anywhere though. They mostly just stayed at home and talked or watched TV together. After a few months of his new lifestyle, Sly finally worked up the courage to ask Carmelita out on a date. He was amazed that she said yes. And now, he still couldn't believe how close they were. He had done what nobody had thought possible, not even himself. He had finally gotten with the cop who had chased him for years. And now, he couldn't be happier.

Or at least, that's what he tried to believe.

Though he loved Carmelita, he always felt guilty for constantly lying to her. It pained him to do it, but he felt it was the only way they could be together. He wanted to tell her the truth. He wanted to let her know that he lied to be with her. But he never could build up the courage to tell her. He was far too scared of what might happen if he told her. He didn't really care if he went to jail. No. He was afraid that Carmelita would leave him. That was the only reason he wouldn't tell her. He had lied for over a year, and he knew that she would never forgive him if she found out. Even if she knew he had given up everything for her. His life, his family fortune, his friends...

His friends. He hasn't seen them since the Cooper Vault job. Well, besides spotting Bentley spying on him while he was with Carmelita a few months after Sly had left the gang. He missed them. Terribly. He had tried to keep tabs on them, but was unsuccessful with everyone but Murray. Apparently he was living somewhere in the U.S. making quite a name for himself racing with the team van. As for the others, Sly had no idea where they were. He was certain that Bentley and Penelope were somewhere in Paris, but they had apparently switched safe houses, and they haven't shown up in any of the cases he had worked on. Did they give up thievery? And what of the other members? Dimitri, Guru, hell even the Panda King! He missed them all. He didn't know where they were, or how to contact them. All he knew was he wanted to see his friends, but he couldn't think of anyway to do it without Carmelita finding out somehow.

Carmelita. Sly's thoughts went back to her. He felt the guilt from lying to her. He felt the fear of her leaving him. He loved her, and he knew she loved him back. But he couldn't help but wonder. Did she love Constable Sly Cooper, or just plain Sly Cooper? He wasn't sure. The only way he could be sure would be to tell her the truth, but again. His fears stopped him. He didn't want to take the risk of losing her. All of these thoughts flew around in Sly's head. He was so focused on them that he didn't notice the door to the balcony open, revealing a red furred latin fox.

-

Carmelita looked at the figure standing in front of her. Sly Cooper. Her partner. She never thought that Sly would ever give up his thieving ways, and yet there he was. Standing on the balcony of her apartment. Their apartment. Of course, she knew that he was not there because he chose to. He was there because he had amnesia. And she decided to take advantage of it by lying to him. He thought he was a constable, but she knew who he really was. Hell, everyone knew who he really was. But he didn't, and Carmelita felt absolutely horrible about it. She had been lying to him for over a year after all. She was the sole reason that Sly was no longer a thief. Sometimes she felt that what she did was wrong. However, if she could have had a second chance, she would have done the same thing. She loved him, and it took him nearly being killed for her to finally realize it. Still, her guilt, as well as her fear that Sly will one day remember everything and leave her, kept her from being truly happy with the raccoon. She sometimes wished that he would always have amnesia, but everytime that thought crossed her mind, she felt terrible about it. She just didn't want him to leave her. She knew that once his memories came back, he would be out the door and back to his thieving ways. She feared the day that he regained his memories. If there was only a way for the guilt and fear to go away...

Carmelita walked up to the ex-thief who was leaning on the railing, staring at the sky. He apparently didn't notice that she was there.

"Something wrong Sly?" she asked with a soft tone. Sly jumped a little when he heard her voice. Exactly how long had she been standing there? "You've been standing out here for quite a while now." Sly forced out a smile.

"Nothing's wrong. I guess I just love staring up at the stars." She wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Come on," she said to him. "Don't give me that. I've known you long enough to know when something's on your mind. Tell me." Sly looked down and sighed. He knew she wouldn't believe him. He hasn't been himself lately. He was feeling more guilt and more fear every day, and while he tried to hide it, Carmelita noticed something was wrong.

"I guess it's just stress from work," Sly said while rubbing his neck. He hoped that Carmelita would believe him. It wasn't exactly a lie. He had been swamped with paperwork from the many cases he had been working on lately. Carmelita smiled at him.

"Maybe you should take the day off tomorrow."

Sly chuckled. "What's this? Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox is actually telling me to take a day off from work? The apocalypse must be here!" Carmelita merely laughed at him.

"Just because I'm a so called 'workaholic' doesn't mean you have to be," she told him.

Sly turned around to look at her. "Yeah well, I think I'll pass. Unless, of course, you take the day off as well. After all, a day without you sounds rather unappealing." He gave her one of his trademark grins. Carmelita smiled at him. She was glad that he still had his charm.

"Well then we'll both take the day off. The Chief owes me a few favors anyways. I'll call him now."

"You really think he'll still be awake? He's probably sleeping on his desk right now."

"Trust me. He's more of a workaholic than I am."

Sly smiled and nodded his head. "If you say so. Hey, since you're taking the day off as well, how about we go out tomorrow and spend the day together? We can see a movie, maybe get some dinner..."

"Ah, the old dinner and a movie date," Carmelita interrupted. She chuckled. "I guess we could do that."

Sly smiled. "Well we don't have to do just that. There's more to do in Paris than just go to dinner and see a movie."

Carmelita eyed him suspiciously. "Like what?"

"Oh don't worry," Sly reassured her. "Leave everything to me. I'll plan out our whole day. How does that sound?"

She smiled. "Sounds good Sly. Just don't go too overboard. The whole point of taking a day off is to calm down and take a break."

"Says you," Sly said. Carmelita laughed at that. She kissed Sly and turned towards the door.

"You should go to sleep soon," she said. "You've got a busy day tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah."

She smiled and started heading into the apartment. As she stepped into the living room, she stopped. She knew that he was stressed, but was there more to it? She had her suspicions, but she didn't think much of them. Still, she had to be sure. She turned back around to see Sly staring at the sky again, his back towards her.

"Sly?"

He turned around and looked into her eyes. They showed concern, but that wasn't all they showed. Was it fear? Guilt? Worry? He couldn't tell.

"Do you remember anything from your past?"

Sly's heart fell. Suddenly he felt all the guilt rush back into him. He knew what he should do. He knew he should tell her the truth. He knew that he should tell her that he remembered everything. He wanted to tell her. This was it. This was his chance to be honest with her.

But then his fear kicked in.

Sly shook his head. "No, I don't."

Carmelita breathed a sigh of relief, but Sly didn't notice. "I'm sorry to hear that." She headed back inside and grabbed the phone to call the Chief.

Sly stared back into the night, overwhelmed with guilt. For the first time since they were on Kaine Island, Carmelita asked him if he remembered anything. And he flat out lied to her. He didn't feel bad about it when he lied the first time, but this time was different. Now that he knew she loved him, it felt terrible. If only he wasn't so damn scared to tell her. He knew that there was a chance that she would stay with him, but he just wouldn't take that into consideration. He was only thinking that if she found out he was lying, she would leave him. Hell, she'd probably try to get him thrown in jail. Sly shook his head and started to head inside. He headed to his bedroom, knowing that there was no way he would be able to sleep that night.

--

_Well? How did I do? Was it good? Bad? Worse than bad? Tell me!_

_I plan to post at least one chapter a week, though don't be surprised if I post more in one week! I'm a fast typer, and a fast thinker. I could probably finish this entire story in about a week if I really wanted to, but I'd rather pace myself so I don't end up with one big jumble of a story. I don't have a beta reader for this story, so I'm proofreading it myself. If you spot any errors, whether they be grammatical errors, or just errors within the story, please tell me so I can fix them! I want this to be a good fic!_

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	2. Chapter 2: Old Friends

_Second chapter already? What?_

_Allow me to explain. When I started writing this story, I didn't have a account. I didn't create one until after I finished the first chapter. Well, I didn't know that I had to wait two days before I start posting stories. So I started writing the second chapter while I waited for the two days to be over. Let me tell you right now, I won't be posting a chapter a day. In fact, this might be the only time you see me post two chapters in two days. As I said before, I want to take my time on this story. I don't want it to be rushed._

_Anyways, enough chit-chat! On with the story!_

--

**Chapter 2: Old Friends**

Sly stared up at the ceiling, lying in his bed. His ears twitched at the sound of each passing car outside of the apartment. No matter what he did, he just couldn't fall asleep. It didn't matter what position he was in, he just couldn't get comfortable. He looked over at his digital clock that lay on top of his nightstand.

"Two thirty seven," he muttered to himself. "Damn it. I just wanna sleep so it will be morning." He turned over on his bed so he lay face down. He knew why he couldn't sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about everything that was going on. His mind switched back and forth between thoughts of Carmelita and thoughts of his friends. Sly rubbed his eyes. He was tired, and he knew it, but there was no way he would be able to sleep now. He sat up in his bed and stared at the window in his room. The view from the window was quite good. You could see many of the buildings throughout Paris through it. He sighed, and started to pull himself out of bed. He quickly threw on his clothes he had been wearing before and headed towards the living room. He sat down on the couch and spread his arms out on the back of it.

His mind was torn. He felt that he had to make a choice; friendship or love? Of course, he knew he would never be able to leave Carmelita for any reason, but the fact that he hadn't seen his old gang for over a year was still painfully obvious. Why couldn't there be a way for him to have them both?

As far as Sly knew, Bentley and Penelope were the only ones who were still in Paris, thus being the only ones that Sly felt he had a chance of seeing once more. Still, he had tried everything to get in contact with them. He searched all of their old hideouts, only to find them all empty. He had tried to look up Bentley's criminal file to get some clues as to where he might be hiding out, but his efforts were fruitless. It was like he had been presented with a case that he couldn't solve. Hell he even tried to contact him through his binocucom, but it seemed that Bentley had either changed frequencies or got rid of it completely. He could never get a hold of him.

Sly looked over at his duffel bag that held all of his stuff for work. It was sitting half open on the coffee table. He could see his binocucom on top of his work clothes. It was a dumb idea, and he knew it wouldn't work before he even tried it. Still, he was desperate. He grabbed his binocucom out of the bag and tried to tap into Bentley's old frequency. He brought the device up to his face.

"Bentley?"

No one was on the receiving end. Sly had expected this, but it didn't make things any easier. Disappointed, he started to pull the device away from his face. He stopped as he went for his duffel bag. He had noticed something outside of the glass door to the balcony. Sly stood up and headed towards the balcony door, binocucom in hand. He looked through the glass, only to find that it wasn't there anymore. Maybe he had imagined it? Sly looked at the binocucom. Suddenly his eyes widened.

"Could that have been the..." Sly thought. He stopped abruptly and quickly brought the binocucom back to his face. "There!" Sly muttered, excitedly. Out in the distance, in the city of Paris, there was a yellow line that went from the buildings to the sky. He quickly opened the door and looked up in the sky to find the top of the yellow line. There it was. At the end of the yellow line was a large "S." For "safe house."

"I must be dreaming," Sly said to himself. He shoved the binocucom in his pocket and looked for a way down on the balcony. He didn't want to go through the front door, for he feared that Carmelita might wake up. Sly took a quick look back into the house and then closed the door. He walked over to the edge of the balcony, where his way down was. A streetlight close to the balcony he was on. He jumped off the balcony and grabbed onto it. He slid down the pole, looking out for anyone who might be watching. When he reached the ground, he pulled out the binocucom again and searched for the waypoint. As soon as he found it, he dashed in the direction of it. He was then very grateful that he wasn't able to sleep that night.

When Sly finally reached the building, he gave it a quick look over. It was much nicer than the old safe houses he used in his old days. It seemed that the Cooper Vault had been keeping Bentley and Penelope quite well. The house was one story, but it was fairly big. Sly walked up to the door and was about to knock, when he suddenly realized.

"Oh yeah. It's almost three in the morning." He couldn't believe he didn't think this over when he left. He was too excited at the fact that he knew where Bentley was to think that he just might be asleep. Sly contemplated going back to his apartment, but decided against it. He was here now, and he'll be damned if he was going to turn back after getting this close to seeing his friends again. He knocked loudly on the door. A smile grew on his lips as he saw a light turn on within the house. The door opened to reveal a turtle in a wheelchair, with a shocked expression on his face.

"S...Sly?" His voice was quiet and nasally. Sly grinned at his life long pal.

"Long time no see Bentley," Sly said happily. "Sorry to wake you. I just couldn't wait until another time." Bentley shook his head and chuckled.

"How did you find us?"

"I don't know." Sly brought out his binocucom and showed it to Bentley. "How did I find you Bentley?" Sly grinned. Bentley looked at the device with a confused look on his face. Suddenly, he laughed.

"I get it. When we moved into this safe house I sent the GPS coordinates to Penelope's binocucom as well as mine. I must have also sent it to yours by accident. Old habit I guess. I just can't believe that you still have that thing. I heard about how Interpol started using binocucoms after they studied yours, but I thought that they would have given you a new one."

"Yeah, well, they didn't. And I'm glad they didn't, otherwise I never would have found you." Sly grinned at Bentley again. "It's really good to see you buddy."

"Likewise." Bentley smiled at Sly. "Though I would have preferred you came during the day. Still, I'll take what I get. Come on inside."

"Thanks." Sly walked inside and was greeted by the many items in the safe house. Many of them consisted of the things that they had stolen over the years. Sly guessed that Bentley had kept them as souvenirs. He spotted a jar labeled "cookies" sitting on a table. A reminder of their very first heist at Happy Campers Orphanage. There were many other objects that Sly could vividly remember stealing. One of which was a case file with Sly's picture on it.

They walked over to the living room. There was a couch and two armchairs. Across from the couch was a coffee table with many books sitting underneath it. There was a wide screen television as well that was hooked up to a stereo system and a DVD player. Sly sat down on one of the armchairs and watched Bentley go into the kitchen.

"You want anything to drink?" Bentley called out.

"Yeah. Whatever you get is fine."

Bentley came back with two canned sodas. He handed one to Sly and opened the other one. "So..." he said as he sipped at his soda.

"So...?"

"Well, first off how in the hell did you become a cop? I always thought that Carmelita was dead set on throwing you in jail."

Sly sighed and looked down. "I'll tell you, but you won't like it."

"What do you mean?" Before Sly could start, a tired female voice called out from somewhere in the house.

"Bentley who are you talking to?" It was Penelope, apparently trying to sleep.

"Sly's here."

"WHAT?! Sly's here?!" The next thing Sly heard was a door opening, and fast footsteps. He saw Penelope dash into the living room. Before he could say hello, she ran up to Sly and nearly tackled him. "Wow! You're really here! I can't believe it!"

"Heh... It's good to see you too Penelope," Sly told her. She let go of him and sat down on the couch next to Bentley.

"Wow! How did you find this place?"

"Well, Bentley accidentally sent the GPS coordinates of this safe house to my binocucom," Sly explained with a grin on his face.

"Of course," she said with a sigh. She turned to Bentley. "You need to be more careful Bentley. What if another cop had Sly's binocucom? We would have been in big trouble."

Bentley took a sip from his soda and shook his head. "I know. It was a mistake, but do you regret it?"

Penelope smiled at Bentley. "No, I guess not. So Sly. What's it like being a cop rather than a thief?" she asked.

"Well, it's different that's for sure. It's not too bad though. Sometimes I find it weird knowing that I'm working with the police rather than running from them."

She looked at him and smiled. "So how exactly did you end up being a cop anyways? I mean, we have no idea what happened to you back on that island. Tell us."

Sly looked down again. He was ashamed of what had happened on the island for a couple of reasons. One, he deserted his friends. Two, he had lied about something that should not be lied about. Still, he knew he had to tell them. He took a swig of his soda before he began.

"Well, after I got into the Inner Sanctum of the Cooper Vault, Dr. M showed up with the sole intention of killing me. We fought, and I won. He still wasn't beaten though. Before I could finish the fight, Carmelita suddenly showed up. Dr. M noticed how I was flirting with her and... Well... He knew he was beaten, but he told me that he would make me suffer. He aimed his... laser thing... at her." Sly paused to take a sip of his soda. "I couldn't stand the thought of her getting killed, so I did the only thing I could think of. I ran in front of her before she could get hit. I took the bullet instead. When I was hit, I was thrown high up in the air and landed on some ledge on the wall of the Inner Sanctum." He took another sip of his soda. Bentley and Penelope had their jaws wide open. _"How in the world did he survive that?"_ they both thought simultaneously.

"I blacked out. When I came to, there was Carmelita, kneeling over me. I could have sworn I saw her tearing up, and I couldn't understand why at the moment. In fact, I couldn't really understand anything. For some reason, I couldn't remember who she was. I didn't have amnesia, but I still was confused. I asked her who she was, and then I asked who I was. She told me that I was Constable Cooper, her partner at Interpol." Sly looked up at his friends. Their faces wore a look of shock and disbelief.

"Why did she say that?" Bentley asked.

"Not sure. Maybe she just wanted to keep me from going back to being a thief. Maybe it was something more. I dunno. Anyways, when she told me that, everything came back to me. I then realized what she had just done. She had given me a chance. A chance to finally cut the crap and be with her. I never truly realized until I was almost killed by that... thing, but I love her. I didn't think that I would get another chance, so I took it. I've been faking amnesia ever since that day, and I don't regret it. I love her, and she loves me." Sly took another sip of his soda, avoiding the gaze of his friends.

"You faked amnesia? How were you able to pull that off without arousing suspicion from anyone?" Bentley asked.

Sly smiled. "Come on buddy, look who you're talking to! I am, er, was, a master thief after all." Bentley nodded.

"Well, how long do you think you can keep this up Sly? Someone is bound to find out eventually. All it takes is one slip of the tongue and your back on your feet, running from the police instead of with them."

Sly nodded. "I know but... I don't want anything bad to happen with Carmelita. I'm afraid she might throw me in jail if I try to tell her, and that would be the end of our relationship. I feel really guilty about what I did, but how am I supposed to confess that I've been lying to her for over a year?"

Bentley thought for a moment. "Good point, but it will be worse if she finds out the hard way." Sly sighed at that.

"Just tell her you love her," Penelope suddenly said. "Tell her that you did it for her. That is the truth isn't it?" Sly nodded. "Well then let her know that! I think what you did was really sweet, even if it was a horrible lie."

Sly chuckled. "Thanks Penelope. You sure know how to cheer a guy up."

"Anytime!"

Bentley shook his head. "Look you have to tell her soon. Before she finds out and arrests you."

"I'll tell her tomorrow... err today. We're taking the day off of work so we can spend time together. I'll butter her up before I tell her and hopefully she won't fry my ass."

"Good."

Sly looked up at Bentley and Penelope. "So, my turn. What have you two been up to? What has the rest of the gang been doing? How's Murray? Do you still keep in contact with him? Any chance of him coming to Paris? I miss him."

Bentley chuckled. "Whoa slow down Sly. Murray's fine. He's been racing the van in Florida. He's pretty damn good at it too. He's hoping to go pro someday. And yes, I still keep in regular contact with him. If you want I can tell him to come up on Saturday. I'm sure he'll come once I tell him that you'll be here as well."

"Make it Sunday. Carmelita and I have Sundays off. Hell I might even be able to convince her to come with me, depending on how my little talk with her goes."

"She won't try to arrest us will she?" Penelope asked with a worried tone. Sly shook his head.

"No. You guys have been under the radar since I left the gang. I doubt she'd try to jail you guys since you seem to have given up thievery. Which reminds me, what exactly have you been doing for the past year?"

"Believe it or not, we were able to find some honest jobs," Bentley said with a smile.

"No kidding?"

Nope. I got a job as a computer technician, and Penelope works in a toy factory, making all kinds of RC toys for kids."

"You two making a good amount of money then?"

"Honestly, we don't even need the jobs thanks to your family vault," Penelope informed Sly. "We just wanted to do something other than sit around all day doing nothing. So we decided to go out and do what we love. Anything that we can't pay for with our jobs alone we use the fortune. I hope you don't mind. We've barely even spent a fraction of it anyways. There's gotta be trillions of dollars in there. You do realize that you're probably the richest man on earth right?"

"Heh, well I certainly don't plan on spending it all in one place. Hell I don't even think that's possible. And no, I don't mind at all. There's far too much money in there for one person alone." Sly paused to take a sip from his soda. "What about the rest of the gang? How are they doing?"

Bentley thought for a second before he answered. "Well, the Panda King went back to China to live close to his daughter. Dimitri bought himself a boat. I got a postcard from him a while back. The Guru is hiding out somewhere in New York."

"Glad to hear they're all doing okay," Sly said with a smile on his face. He looked down at his watch, which now read 3:11AM. "Well, I'll get out of your hair now. I gotta get some sleep so I'm not tired for tomorrow." He finished the last of his soda and walked over to the trash can in the kitchen to dispose of the empty can. He headed back towards Bentley and Penelope. "It was really good seeing you two again. I've missed you guys terribly."

"Same to you buddy," Bentley told him as Sly gave him a pat on the back. "Keep in touch. And I'll see you Sunday yeah?"

"Of course." He turned towards Penelope. "See ya later Penelope!"

She stood up and gave Sly a hug. "Make sure you visit us regularly! Don't become a stranger, again."

"I'll try. See you guys on Sunday."

Sly headed out the door and back towards the apartment. He hoped that Carmelita did not wake up. He was relieved when he saw the lights of his apartment out. As he climbed up the street light outside of his apartment, he started thinking about what he would do tomorrow. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. He smiled.

"If things go well tomorrow," Sly muttered to himself, as he jumped off the street light and onto his balcony, "I'll be the happiest I've ever been in my life. And hopefully she will be too."

--

_Well, Sly found Bentley and Penelope! And hopefully he'll see Murray soon too! But what exactly was he thinking as he climbed the streetlight? What was the idea that he suddenly had? I'll not say! (I'm so evil!)_

_So, the second chapter is finished! Wow, and it was a long one too! And I typed it all in one sitting! Wowee! What's wrong with me? I dunno! _

_Reviews are always appreciated! Remember, I'm new to this whole fan fiction thing, so I want criticism! Whether it be good or bad! Anything that will help me with my writing. I don't believe that this will be my last fan fiction. I mean, after all, it's my first. And I'm really enjoying writing this story. Maybe one day I'll write another fic on something else, but for now I just want to focus on this one. I'm not going to ever work on a different story while a separate one remains unfinished! Unless of course, I decide to scrap it!_

_Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter! It might be a short one, but then again, it might be a long one! I dunno! I guess we'll have to just wait and see._

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	3. Chapter 3: A Day in the City

_Third chapter. We're on a roll folks!_

_I'm updating this story a lot faster than I originally wanted to, but it's turning out exactly how I want it to. Each chapter so far, for the most part, has been written in one sitting. Right after I finish a chapter, I re-read it several times, looking for any mistakes, and anything that seems out of place. As I read it over and over, I edit the chapter so it turns out exactly as I want it. All of this seems to take around four hours if I go non-stop. So far, each chapter has been completely finished in one day. So much for the whole "one chapter a week" idea._

_Before you all think that I'm rushing this story, let me assure you that I'm not. I take my time when I write and proofread these chapters. I'm just really enjoying writing this story. I actually finished this chapter the day after the second chapter was posted, but I wanted to hold off one more day. If you think that the speed of my updates is affecting the quality of the story, let me know!_

_I'd like to thank all of the people who have reviewed so far! Sure I only have a few reviews, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't give thanks where it's due! )_

_And now, without further ado, here's chapter 3 of Confession! Enjoy!_

_--_

**Chapter 3: A Day in the City**

Sly woke up facing his alarm clock. It was 11:42 AM already. He couldn't remember the last time he ever woke up so late. He usually woke up around 7:30 every morning. Even on his days off he would be up by nine. He yawned loudly and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He sat up and looked at his door. Carmelita would surely be up. Sly walked over to his dresser and put on a shirt and a pair of jeans and walked out into the living room. Sure enough, there was Carmelita, watching TV.

"Finally awake huh?" she asked, noticing him walk out of his room. Sly smiled and walked over to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. He then went over to the couch to sit down next to Carmelita. She was watching the news. "How in the world did you sleep for so long?" Sly thought for a second. He obviously couldn't tell her the real reason why he slept in so late.

"Erm... couldn't sleep last night. Last time I looked at my clock before I fell asleep it was around three." He'll let her know about his get together with Bentley and Penelope later.

"Well I hope you're not too tired," she said with a smile. She was excited about their day out today.

"I'm wide awake, don't you worry," Sly reassured her. He had already thought of what they were going to do that day. He knew that he needed to get away from her at one point, otherwise there would be no way to pull off what he was planning, but how?

"So what do you have planned today?" Carmelita asked. Sly thought for a moment.

"Well I thought that we'd walk around Paris and browse some of the shops around the city. Later on we'll go to a movie and dinner."

"Oh?" Carmelita smiled at him. "When are we going?"

"Now, if you want."

She nodded and stood up. "Well then let's go."

-

They spent a few hours walking around, going inside any stores that interested them. It had been quite a while since Carmelita had just gone out to shop, and she was now enjoying every minute of it. She bought clothes, accessories, the works. Sly however, didn't spend much. He bought nothing more than a shirt that he liked. He couldn't spend too much money. He was saving it for something special. After their bout of shopping, Sly decided to take her to a spa so he could go off on his own. When they got there, Carmelita looked at Sly with a confused look.

"A spa?"

"Yup," Sly replied with a smile. "Don't get me wrong, I don't think you need it, being as beautiful as you are. Still, I thought you might enjoy the relaxation."

"And what will you be doing while I'm in there?" Carmelita asked, with a suspicious look on her face.

Sly grinned. "Oh, not much really. I'll probably go get a reservation at a restaurant for later tonight." Carmelita didn't buy it, but she didn't say anything about it. He was up to something, that much she knew. She kissed Sly.

"Whatever you say. I'll see you later then." Carmelita turned and headed towards the spa.

"See ya gorgeous." Sly smiled. He knew she was suspicious, but there was no way for her to know what he was planning for that night. He headed for a fancy restaurant that was close to the local movie theatre and got a reservation for eight that night. After that was done, he headed for his next destination to take care of one more thing. He smiled the whole way there. Of course, he knew that this would only work if Carmelita didn't hate him after he told her the truth about his amnesia. He was still worried about what the outcome would be, but for now he would enjoy the day with her. After he finished his little errand, he headed for the spa to pick up Carmelita. She was standing outside the building.

"Look who's finally here," she said as she smiled. Sly grinned.

"How long were you waiting?"

"Not too long. So where to next?" Sly looked at his watch. It was almost five.

"Well, we're going to dinner at eight, so I say we head to the movies now." She nodded.

"Lead the way."

The movie was around two and a half hours long. Carmelita insisted that they see the new Batman movie; The Dark Knight. They had a shocked expression as they walked out of the movies.

"Wow," Sly said. "Definitely one of the best movies I've seen in a long time."

"I know. Can you believe the Joker? He was ridiculous! They better not ever make another movie with him in it, because they would never be able to find an actor to top that performance." Sly nodded in agreement. They headed towards the restaurant. It was almost eight. Sly started to feel nervous. He knew he had to tell her soon. He had decided that morning to tell her during dinner. And there was still something else to worry about. Something that he had been planning it since he got home after seeing Bentley and Penelope. It had to be perfect. It had to go well. But first, there was the matter of telling her that he remembered everything.

They talked mostly about the movie for the first half of dinner. After a while they started to gossip about their fellow officers. Who they liked and who they didn't like. After they had finished eating, they decided to order dessert. Sly felt more worry. He looked at Carmelita. He had to tell her. It had to be now.

"Carmelita," Sly said with a worried tone. She looked into his eyes. They showed worry. He was nervous about something, but what?

'What's wrong?" Sly sighed. It was now or never.

"There's something I really need to get off my chest, but I don't know how to go about saying it." He looked down at his empty plate. Carmelita moved her hand over Sly's. He felt a little better. He breathed heavily. "First off, I just want to say this. Carmelita, I love you. I don't think I've ever loved anything more than I love you. This past year has made me extremely happy. But lately I've been feeling, well, extremely guilty."

"Why?" Suddenly Carmelita felt worried.

"Because..." Sly paused. This was it. There was no going back now. Carmelita squeezed his hand to comfort him. "Because... I know who I really was, before my accident."

Carmelita's grip weakened.

"What?"

Sly sighed. "I know I wasn't really your partner. Hell, I wasn't even a constable. Quite the opposite actually. I was a thief, born into a long line of master thieves. You were the inspector that was assigned to my case."

Carmelita's jaw dropped slightly, and closed again. She pulled her hand away from his. She didn't know what to say.

"You've... you've got your memories back..." Her eyes started to tear up slightly. She avoided Sly's gaze.

"Not exactly..."

"What do you mean not exactly Cooper?" she demanded. Sly winced. She hadn't called him by his last name since he was a thief.

"I mean, I..." He didn't know how to say it. He sighed again. "Carmelita, I don't have amnesia."

"No kidding!" Her hard gaze at Sly made him feel terrible.

"No, I mean I never had it."

Her ears perked up. Her face went from angry to confused. She started to tear even more.

"Wh... What?" Sly looked down at his hands. He couldn't bear to look at her in this state.

"I faked it." Carmelita's jaw dropped again.

"But... why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sly asked. When Carmelita didn't say anything, he continued. "You didn't know it at the time, but you gave me a choice that day on Kaine Island. I could either go back to being a thief, or I could give that life up and have a chance at being with you. I don't know if you noticed, but I loved you Carmelita. Of course, I still do, but back then I couldn't think of any way to end our little game of cops and robbers so I could go after you. Luckily, you did it for me. I didn't really realize how much I loved you until I was almost killed by Dr. M's monster. When I was inches away from death, the only regret I had in my life was never taking the next step with you. Sure, I flirted whenever I got the chance, but besides the day that we took down Clock-La, I never really got a chance to just sit down and talk to you. Not as a thief and a cop, but as normal people. I wanted to be with you Carmelita. Before you showed up and saved me, I promised to myself that if I survived, I would tell you how I really felt. I know there's no way to make up for lying to you for so long. What I did was wrong, but I don't regret it. I love you Carmelita, and I've been the happiest I've ever been ever since that day. Still, if you want me to leave, I will."

Carmelita stared at Sly in complete shock. She didn't know what to think or say. She wanted to be angry with him. He had lied to her. Deceived her. For over a year. And it wasn't just some little white lie. He had her completely fooled. And yet, he did it all because he loved her. He didn't become a cop because she tricked him. He did it because he chose to. Because he wanted to. He willingly gave up his life as a thief, his friends and all of his possessions. All to be with her. She wanted to be angry with him. She couldn't. Strangely enough, she felt relieved. Her fear of him leaving her disappeared. She still felt guilty about lying to him, but he had done the same thing. For the same reason.

When Carmelita didn't say anything, Sly's heart fell. His face turned grim. He reached into his pocket for his wallet, pulled out some money, and placed it on the table.

"This should pay for the dinner," Sly said quietly. He tried to hide the sadness voice. He was on the verge of tears, but he didn't want her to know it. He started to get up out of his chair.

"Sly wait..." Carmelita said quickly, before he could stand up. He stopped and looked at her. Before he could say anything, Carmelita leaned over the table and kissed Sly. Deeply. In that kiss, all the fear and worry melted away. It seemed to last forever. He couldn't believe it. He had just told her that he had been lying to her for over a year, and now she was kissing him! _"The world works in funny ways," _he thought. When the kiss broke off, Carmelita smiled at the confused raccoon.

"Sly, you're not the only one who lied. I did the same thing as you. I lied to you. I made you believe you were something you weren't. Or rather, I thought I did. I thought you had amnesia, and I decided to take advantage of it for my own personal gain. Sure, it was an advantage to everyone, seeing as how you became one less criminal in the world, but that wasn't the main reason."

"I'm not upset that you lied Carmelita. Hell, if I was, I would probably still be a thief. But what was the real reason?"

"The same reason you lied to me Sly."

Sly was surprised at that. Was she saying that she lied because she loved him? That couldn't be right. He had always been nothing but a nuisance to her, hadn't he? How could she have loved him? Sly didn't know what to say.

"I didn't really realize how much you meant to me until you were shot by Dr. M," Carmelita continued. "I thought you were dead. And then you woke up, apparently with amnesia. I was relieved that you were going to be okay, of course. When you asked me who you were, I got the idea to bring you into the force. That way we would be on the same side of the law, and I would have a chance at being with you."

So she did lie because she loved him. Sly grinned at her.

"How could you love me? I always thought that I was nothing but a pain in the ass to you."

"As much of a pain in the ass as you were," Carmelita said with a smile, "you were always good to me. You always had something nice to say, even if I thought it was nothing but flirty chit-chat. Not to mention the fact that you saved my life three times, without thinking things through I might add."

"Hey, Bentley and I sure as hell thought things through when we saved you from the Contessa," Sly said in defense. Carmelita chuckled at him.

"All of that, piled with the fact that you were charming and handsome, is why I love you. You know, to be honest, it's actually a bit of a relief knowing that you lied to me. It shows me that you weren't tricked into this new life. You chose it. I've always been afraid that you would one day remember everything, and then you would be out the door. Well, there's no need to be afraid of that now is there?"

"I guess not," Sly replied. He couldn't believe it. It couldn't have gone any better. He didn't know what to expect when he told her the truth, but he certainly didn't expect this. He wasn't the only one who lied out of love. He had always thought that Carmelita lied to him only because she wanted to keep him from being a thief. He smiled and said, "So, you're **not** going to throw me in jail then?" Carmelita laughed.

Their desserts had arrived. As they ate they started talking about old times. Sly would tell her about his old heists, and how he pulled them off. Carmelita was very interested in how he really worked as a thief. He was a lot more complex than she had thought. She couldn't believe how much work a simple heist really took. As they finished up their dessert, Sly started getting more nervous. There was one more thing he wanted to do before they left. He had been planning it out since he got home from Bentley's. He had everything he needed, thanks to his little errand earlier that day. The time was now.

"Carmelita," Sly began. She looked up from her nearly finished slice of chocolate cake. "There's something else I wanna talk to you about, now that the truth is out and everything."

"What is it?" Carmelita wondered what he was thinking. He was obviously nervous about something, but she couldn't think why. He had already confessed his lie, why would he be nervous now? Sly got up from his chair and walked closed to Carmelita. _"Might as well do this right,"_ he thought. He knelt down in front of Carmelita and took her hand.

"Carmelita. I never expected for everything to go so well tonight. I was so worried that you would be angry with me because of my lie, but it turns out that it has only made you happy. We both lied to each other for the same reason; because we wanted a chance at love. We took that chance, and look at where it's brought us. I've never been happier in my entire life, and I can only assume that it is the same with you." Carmelita nodded. She was speechless. Was he about to do what she thought he was going to do?

"I want that happiness to stick. I want it to be never ending. I love you, and I want to be with you until the day I die. And there's only one way for that to happen." He reached into the pocket on the inside of his jacket. He pulled out a black box and opened it to reveal a ring. It was pure silver, with a large diamond in the middle.

"Carmelita Montoya Fox, will you marry me?"

She teared up again, but this time they were tears of joy. She smiled at him. "Yes Sly, I will." As Sly slid the ring onto her finger, they both thought the same thing. _"This is the happiest night of my life."_

_--_

_And there's chapter three!_

_For those of you who haven't figured it out, that was what Sly's idea in the last chapter was. To propose. I'm sure some of you figured it out before the dinner scene happened. I tried my best to keep it from being obvious, as I didn't want it to be revealed until he asked her._

_But wait, you say. The summary of this story stated that the result of his confession would turn out to be worse than he anticipated! What gives? All in due time people!_

_Well, it's September, and you know what that means! Yep. School's starting again. Between that and my part time job, I won't have as much time to write this story as before. Luckily, however, seeing as how I'm a senior now, I'll be getting out of school early every day. So, I'll still have plenty of time to work on the story. I still plan to get out at least one chapter a week, but don't be surprised if I only get one chapter done in one week. I got lucky with the first three chapters because I had all the time in the world to write those chapters, save for a few hours of work during the week. _

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	4. Chapter 4: The Chief's Wedding Gift

_And then there were four. This one's a bit short, and a bit boring too, and I apologize for that. Still, this chapter is kind of important. Why? Because this is just about where things start to go wrong. :)_

_Well, I went back and read over chapter three once again, and I realized something. I don't really like how it turned out. I think the end of it is good, but everything before the dinner scene is kind of, eh. It just doesn't seem like it's written well. Oh well._

_From here on out, expect at least one chapter every three days. This one took a little longer than I expected. School has already hit me hard, and it's taking longer than I thought to pump these out. Plus, I've found that it's starting to get hard thinking out how I want the story to progress. Don't worry, I've got the general idea of the whole story figured out, I'm just having a tiny bit of trouble thinking of a way to present it._

_Now that that's out of the way, I present to you chapter four!_

--

**Chapter 4: The Chief's Wedding Gift**

"So what made you finally decide to tell me the truth?" Carmelita watched as Sly headed towards the living room. They had gotten home a little before ten. The walk home was pretty uneventful, as the restaurant was fairly close to their apartment complex. Sly sat down on the couch next to Carmelita. He knew what he had to tell her, but he was a little nervous as to how she would react. Hopefully she wouldn't be too pissed at him for it. Sly scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, I kind of went out to visit Bentley last night. He convinced me to tell you. Said it was better to tell you before you found out the hard way." Sly looked over at Carmelita to see her reaction. He was surprised to see her smirking at him.

"Figures. I guess that's why you woke up at nearly twelve?"

"Well, yeah," Sly said. "Are you mad?"

"Surprisingly, no. How did you find him though?" she asked.

"He sent the GPS coordinates to my binocucom by mistake," Sly explained.

"I thought he was the smart one. That kind of mistake could have gotten him arrested. I mean, what if another cop had your binocucom?"

"That's what Penelope said."

"Who?"

"Oh yeah, I don't think you met her," Sly explained to Carmelita. "We recruited her for the Cooper Vault job. She's Bentley's girlfriend."

"He got himself a girlfriend?" Carmelita asked. She chuckled to herself. "Didn't see that coming."

Sly looked nervously at Carmelita. "Erm, well they invited me to their house on Sunday. They said they were going to get Murray to stop by and I was wondering if..."

"Of course I'm going to let you see your old friends again," Carmelita interrupted. "I am, after all, the reason you haven't seen them for over a year."

"Well, I was kind of hoping you would come with me. I think the guys would appreciate it."

"What?" Carmelita said, surprised. "You really think your old gang would appreciate it if a cop, who had been tracking them for years, came to their house and visited?"

"You'd be surprised," Sly replied. "Nobody really has bad feelings towards you. Sure, you tried to jail us all, but it wasn't anything personal. You were just doing their job."

"Maybe, but wouldn't that be awkward? For all of us? Well, except for you maybe."

"Don't worry," Sly reassured her. "Just don't arrest anyone and you'll be fine." Carmelita laughed.

"Alright ringtail, I'll go with you."

"Excellent." Sly looked over the clock and yawned. "Well, I guess I'm going to bed. We do have work tomorrow after all. Good night, my sweet." He kissed Carmelita and started heading towards his room. But before he could reach the door...

"Where are you going?"

Sly looked over at Carmelita, wearing confusion on his face. "Erm, to my room?"

Carmelita grinned at him. "Why? I have a double bed you know. We're going to be married, we might as well act like it."

Sly smiled. "Whatever you say beautiful." He headed into the room.

-

The announcement of their engagement got mixed reactions from their co-workers at Interpol. Some of them were happy for them, while others felt that they had missed out on something great. The guys groaned at the fact that Carmelita was no longer available to anyone. The women sighed at their missed chance with the suave ladies man. Throughout his day, Sly was bombarded with comments ranging from "congratulations" to "you lucky bastard!" Sly merely shrugged the tension off and ignored all the attention from his fellow officers. He couldn't deal with it now. He and Carmelita were assigned to the case of a local illegal arms dealer known as Phillip Marakov a few weeks ago. He was one of the largest arms dealers in all of France, and he was on the Interpol's most wanted list. They were having trouble tracking him. While searching through the case file, he heard a knock on his open door. He looked up to see Carmelita standing in his office. He smiled at the vixen.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Chief wants to see us." She waited until he was almost out the door to head to the Chief's office. Hopefully the Chief wasn't going to chew them out for not getting anything on Marakov. They knocked on the door leading into Chief Barkley's office.

"Come in," a low raspy voice called from within the room. Sly and Carmelita walked through the door.

"You wanted to see us sir?" Carmelita questioned.

"Ah, yes. Please sit down you two." They did as they were told. Sly tried to read the Chief's face. Sly couldn't tell what emotions were going through the Chief. Was it anger? Disappointment? Happiness? It was impossible to tell. He had the perfect poker face. Barkley looked at the two officers in front of him. "Well, first off, I guess congratulations are in order. Finally took the plunge eh Cooper?" Sly smiled.

"Yep. Best decision of my life." The Chief chuckled silently to himself.

"Never thought that would ever happen. Carmelita Fox is marrying Sly Cooper. Quite unheard of." Carmelita tensed up. Something was wrong. The Chief shouldn't be acting like this in front of Sly. He's hinting too much towards his past. He doesn't know the truth about Sly's amnesia, does he? Sly decided to play it cool and act dumb.

"Why's that sir? I mean we have been together for almost a year." Sly could feel something was wrong just as much as Carmelita would. Why was the Chief smirking like that?

"Why, because of your past as a thief of course."

Carmelita's jaw dropped. Was the Chief really this dumb? No, no he wasn't. He knew. He knew Sly didn't really have amnesia. There was no denying it. But, how? Sly suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

"Erm, what are you talking about sir?" The Chief merely smiled at him.

"Come on now Sly, there's no need to play dumb with me anymore. I know the truth. I know all about your little lie to Carmelita. I know you faked your amnesia." Sly and Carmelita had no idea what to say. They were left speechless. The Chief continued. "I gotta say, I've heard of tons of crazy stories of what guys do to try to win a lady over, but your story takes the cake Sly. A complete 180 in your life, from thief to cop. Do you think it was worth it?"

Sly was in complete shock. Not sure of what to say, he simply nodded.

"How did you find out?" Carmelita asked.

"You weren't the only officers eating at that restaurant you two were at last night," the Chief explained. "I got a call from Constable Richardson late last night. He told me all about Sly's little confession to you. He was sitting only a few tables away and could hear what you two were talking about." He pulled out a cigar from his desk drawer and lit it. "I gotta say Sly, that must have taken some real guts to tell her that you were lying to her for over a year."

Sly looked down and frowned. "What happens now then? Am I kicked off the force? Are you going to arrest me?" The Chief smiled at the raccoon. He took a puff of his cigar before continuing.

"It's what I should do. Once word gets out that Interpol hired a known criminal, we'll never hear the end of it. People will probably be demanding your arrest." He looked at the dismayed ex-master thief. "But..."

Sly's ears perked up. "But...?"

"I'm not going to do that." Sly was confused. Why? Why was he letting him go, knowing that he lied about his amnesia? After all, the only reason he was on the force at all was because of his amnesia. As if he read Sly's mind, the Chief explained his reasoning. "I know what a year can do to a man Sly. It can change him in crazy ways. It can change his personality, the way he acts, and it can also change his morals. I know that you willingly gave up thieving to become a cop. I know that you're smart enough to stay out of trouble if I let this pass by. I also know that you two have become the two best cops in this department. On top of that, I do believe that Carmelita here would get slightly pissed off if I arrested her future husband." He looked at Carmelita and smiled. "But hear me now Sly. I'll be watching you closely. One mishap and you're out of here. Got it?" Sly nodded. The Chief brought the cigar up to his mouth and took another puff. "Think of this as my wedding gift to you." A thought suddenly crossed Sly's mind.

"Sir, this isn't going to go public is it?" The Chief shook his head.

"I'm sorry Sly, but it must. I'll get hell for it for sure, but it must be done. I can't keep something like this from the public, or I'll get fired if anyone finds out about this." Sly looked down and sighed.

"I understand."

"And Carmelita, you're still responsible for him. Got it?"

"Yes sir," she replied.

"Is that all sir?" Sly asked.

The Chief shook his head.

"No, there's one more thing." The Chief took another puff of his cigar. "Sly, I'm promoting you to Inspector."

-

_Later that night..._

A shady figure stood near an alleyway in front of a closed convenience store. He brought a lit cigarette up to his mouth and took a drag. He then threw the butt on the ground and stomped it with his boot. He stood there in silence, occasionally glancing at the large duffel bag sitting next to him. He was waiting for them. The deal was about to go down. Any minute now. They should be here soon. Suddenly, his cell phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He brought the device out and looked at the screen. He frowned. Not him. He knew better than to call him before a deal. This had better be good. He opened up the phone and brought it to his ear.

"What is it?" he growled, dangerously. "I'm busy. You know that the deal is going down soon."

_"I assume that you didn't catch the news tonight?"_ the voice on the other end asked.

"Why the hell should I care about the news?" the figured replied. "It's nothing but a bunch of boring crap. Why should I bother when I've got bigger things to worry about? Like our little business?" A muffled laugh came from the other end.

_"Oh, I'm sure you would have been interested on the story they had on Constable Cooper tonight. Or should I say, Inspector Cooper."_

"So the bloody raccoon was promoted. Big deal! Why the hell should I care? It's not like he can get to me anyways. If he could have, he would have arrested me while he was a Constable. Just because his rank changed doesn't mean he'll have an easier time trying to track me. I'm not worried."

_"Oh, that's not the interesting part. See, it seems Cooper has been faking amnesia since before he joined Interpol."_

The figure's jaw dropped.

"You're not bull-shitting me right?"

_"You really think I'd be dumb enough to screw around with you? I know what happened to your last partner. I'm not that foolish."_ The figure nodded to himself.

"Was there any mention of his cane during the story?"

_"Unfortunately no, but I'm willing to bet that he knows where it is."_

The figure looked down on the concrete and thought. "So we need to get to him then. You realize what this means Carson?" Carson laughed.

_"Of course. With luck, we'll be filthy rich in no time!"_ The figure smiled.

"When I get back from this deal, we'll start planning out how we're going to do this." He looked down the street to see a car coming down the road, gradually going slower as it approached the figure. He picked up the duffel bag with his free hand. "I need to go. I'll call you later. Goodbye Carson."

_"Goodbye Marakov."_

--

_Uh oh! What's going to happen? What are Carson and Marakov after? It should be obvious to all of you, hopefully. If not, then you need to play Sly 3 again. :P_

_Well, school is upon us once more! As you can see, it took me three days to get this chapter out. I've been rather busy since chapter 3. Luckily, it's the weekend soon, and chapter 5 shouldn't be too far off! Remember, I'm aiming for one chapter every three days from now on. With some luck, I'll be able to get them out faster. I'm not making any promises though!_

_This chapter has gotten me to pass the 10,000 word mark on this story! Joy!_

_Reviews are always appreciated! :)_

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	5. Chapter 5: Return of a Family Heirloom

_Sorry about the lateness. I actually finished the chapter on time (last night), but I didn't get a chance to proofread it. So I waited until the next day to post it so I had time to read over it and make changes._

_This one's the shortest chapter so far. I expected this to be a bit longer. Oh well._

_Well, nothing else to say. Read on!_

_--_

**Chapter 5: Return of a Family Heirloom**

Sunday finally came, and Sly was visibly excited to see Murray. He was more upbeat than usual. However, as Carmelita waited for Sly to finish getting ready to go, she started having second thoughts about going. What would Sly's old friends say to her? What would they think? She knew she was going to feel uncomfortable being in a house filled with ex-thieves. Sure, she had been living with one for a long time, but this was different. She hoped that there wouldn't be any grudges. Murray would probably be okay, but what about Bentley? How would he feel? And what about Penelope? Carmelita had never even met her. She started to doubt that it was a good idea for her to go with Sly. Sly walked out into the kitchen where Carmelita was sitting. He noticed the worry on her face.

"Not nervous about this visit are you?" Sly said, smiling at the vixen. Carmelita sighed.

"Well, I just don't know how your friends will feel about me being there is all. You sure it's fine with them if I come?"

"You worry too much Carmelita." Sly grabbed the keys to Carmelita's car and started heading towards the door. "Let's go."

"And where do you think you're going with my keys?" Sly grinned at the fox.

"You have no idea where this place is. I do, so I figured I'd drive." Carmelita shook her head and smiled. She held her hand out to Sly.

"Hand them over ringtail. I don't feel like arguing with you." Sly hung his head.

"Aw, you're no fun. What's the point of having a driver's license if I can't drive?"

"Well, since you're an inspector now, you'll be able to make enough money to buy your own car."

"I guess so." Sly motioned towards the door. "Okay let's go."

-

"Sly! Good to see ya!"

Penelope was standing in the doorway to the safe house. She was smiling widely at Sly.

"Good to see you too Penelope. Is Murray here yet?"

"Not yet, but he should be here soon." She turned to Carmelita, still smiling. "I assume you're Carmelita. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Penelope." She held her hand out to Carmelita, who shook it immediately.

"Pleasure to meet you." Carmelita was still nervous about this. What does a cop say to a person who used to be a thief, especially when you're trying to be polite?

"I'm guessing Sly's little confession to you went well?" Carmelita chuckled.

"Better than you can ever imagine," she explained. Sly nodded.

"We'll tell you all about it when Murray gets here. Now, where's Bentley?"

"He's in the living room, probably on his computer. Come on in!"

Carmelita looked around the house as she walked with Sly and Penelope. She stopped at a cookie jar to stare at it in confusion. Sly looked at Carmelita and smiled.

"Our very first heist," he explained. "Ah, such good memories. It was when we were in the orphanage."

"And you stole cookies. Cute," Carmelita teased.

"Hey! It was harder than you would think" Sly said in his defense, grinning.

As predicted by Penelope, Bentley was tapping away on his laptop. He stopped immediately as Sly, Penelope, and Carmelita walked in.

"Look who's finally here," he said happily. "Glad you could make it, both of you."

"No problem buddy," Sly replied. "I'd never pass up a chance to annoy you."

"Har har." He looked at Carmelita. "Hello Inspector. I'm glad you came. I'm sure this must be awkward for you."

"Well, yeah. But I imagine that you feel the same way."

Carmelita sat down on one of the armchairs in the living room while Sly sat on the couch, close to her. Penelope walked over to Bentley and looked at the computer screen. She whispered something in Bentley's ear. Bentley responded with a nod.

"Okay you two," Sly said, with a suspicious glare towards them. "What are you up to?"

"Well, we kind of have something for you," Bentley explained. "Something we forgot to give you last time we saw you. Hang on, I'll go get it." He wheeled himself over to a closed door and opened it to reveal a closet. He pressed a button on the chair and it rose up in the air, with the wheels still on the ground. He grabbed something from the shelf in the closet and pressed the button on his wheelchair again. When he got back onto the ground, Sly noticed he was holding his old thieving clothes, as well as his red leg holster and an old book. In his right hand, was a cane with a golden C shaped tip. Sly smiled.

"I thought that you would've held on to that stuff."

"Well, we figured it was only right to give it back to you. I mean, it is yours after all." Bentley wheeled over to Sly and handed him his stuff. Sly inspected his cane while sitting down. It seemed to have been polished recently. Bentley sure kept good care of it while he had it. He twirled the cane in his hand and set it on the ground, leaning against the couch. Carmelita smiled at the excited raccoon.

"Never thought I'd see that thing again," she said.

"Hope you don't mind Carmelita," Bentley said. "I just figured that he would want it back. You know, as a keepsake or something. I mean, it is a family heirloom."

"Oh, I don't mind at all, as long as I don't see it being put to use," Carmelita said. "Still, I think it might be better if we left this stuff here for now."

"Why?" asked Sly, confused.

"Because it hasn't even been a week since the Chief found out about your lie. If there's any hint that you might go back to being a thief, he might kick you off the force." Sly scratched his head.

"Didn't think about that. Yeah I guess you're right. We'll keep it here until things cool down."

"Wait," Bentley interrupted. "Did you say that your Chief knows that Sly lied?"

"Yeah," Sly answered. "We'll explain everything when Murray gets here." Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door. "Perfect timing! I'll get it!"

Sly jumped up from the couch and ran over to the door. He opened it to reveal a large pink hippo.

"Murray! Long time no..." He was interrupted by a bone-crushing hug from Murray.

"Sly! Oh man is it good to see you! It's been too long buddy!"

"Murray... can't... breathe..." Sly managed to choke out. He was released immediately.

"Oh, sorry!" Sly laughed. Same old Murray. "So what have you been up to since the Cooper Vault job? I heard from Bentley that you're a cop now! Is that true?"

"Yeah, it's true," Sly said while nodding.

"He also said that you finally managed to get with Inspector Fox! Is that true too?"

"Yeah. She's inside the house actually."

"She's not going to arrest me is she?" Murray asked seriously. Sly chuckled at Murray.

"No. She's not. Come on in!"

They walked back to the living room. Carmelita and Penelope seemed to really be hitting it off. Bentley was sitting by them, listening to their conversation. When he saw Murray walk in, he wheeled himself over to him.

"Good to see ya chum," he said, grinning.

"You too buddy!" Murray looked over at Penelope. He gave her a hug, though he made sure not to crush her. "Penelope! It's been a while! Good to see you!"

"You too Murray. How's racing the van going for you?"

"Oh, it's awesome! I've been getting better each race. I actually have a short winning streak right now!" He looked over at Carmelita. "Inspector Fox! I heard you're with Sly! Congrats! I'm really happy for you two!" He shook her hand and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Thanks big guy. Now that you're here, we can give you guys the big news."

"News?" Bentley questioned. "What news?"

"Well, when I told Carmelita that I lied about my amnesia, she took it much better than I thought she would. In fact, things went so well that we're getting married."

Everyone yelled the same thing at once.

"WHAT?!"

Carmelita held up her hand that held her wedding ring and smiled.

"He proposed right after he told me the truth."

Everyone looked at Sly.

"Yep," he said. "Turns out we both lied for the same reason. I lied about my amnesia, and she lied about who I was. And we both did it because we wanted a chance at being together."

Murray was ecstatic. "Oh man! Congrats you two! Seriously! That's awesome!"

Penelope grinned. "That's so sweet."

Bentley patted Sly's back. "Congratulations you two!"

For the rest of their stay, Sly and Carmelita filled everyone in on what they've been doing since Kaine Island. They told them about the various cases they worked on. They told them about how they finally got together. They told them about how Sly finally confessed. After a bit of talking, they decided to order some pizza and watch some TV. They continued to talk as they ate. Bentley and Penelope didn't have too many exciting stories. They merely told Sly and Carmelita about how they secured the Cooper Vault in a new location close to their safe house for easy access. Murray told them about his many races, as well has his many car crashes. Sly's jaw dropped as Murray explained every detail of some of his most disastrous crashes.

"How do you manage to climb out of all of those crashes, with nothing but a few scratches?" he asked.

"I dunno really. I guess I've just been lucky."

"You'd better hope that luck doesn't run out," Carmelita said with a grin. "It sounds like you've got a good career though. Good to see that you're finally doing something that you love. And it's even legal!" Sly laughed at that. He looked over at the clock. Damn, it was almost ten already?

"We should probably go soon," Sly told Carmelita. "We have work tomorrow."

"Aw, do you have to go?" Murray asked.

"Yeah. We gotta get up fairly early tomorrow. I almost miss being a thief. At least then I got to sleep in until whenever I wanted." Sly and Carmelita got up and started heading towards the door as everyone followed. Before he opened the door, he turned towards his friends. "It was really good seeing you all, especially you Murray."

"Yeah, same goes for me," Carmelita said. She gave everyone there a handshake, while Sly gave Murray and Bentley a slap on the back. He then went over to Penelope and hugged her.

"Make sure you visit often!" Penelope said.

"Isn't that what you said last time?" Sly smiled. "See you guys later."

"Bye," everyone said simultaneously.

As Sly and Carmelita walked out to their car, they failed to notice a dark figure standing on the rooftop across the street from Bentley's house, watching. He pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

_"Marakov here."_

"It's Carson. The targets are headed for their apartment." He watched as the car sped off.

_"Excellent,"_ the other end replied. _"Get to the warehouse and watch over the shipment. I'm headed out. I'm bringing a few guards too. I may need the extra manpower depending on whether or not things go well."_

"Understood. They know of the plan, yes?"

_"I filled them in while you were out. Listen, do __**not**__, under any circumstances, call me until I get back to the warehouse tonight. Understand?"_

"Yes sir. I just have one question. What about Inspector Fox?"

_"We're not taking her, but she must not be killed. She could be useful later on. For now though, we only need Cooper."_

"Got it. I'll see you later then, hopefully with Cooper."

_"Goodbye Carson."_ The line then went dead.

_--_

_Uh oh. Things aren't looking good for Sly, and he doesn't even know it yet! What's going to happen? You'll just have to wait and find out!_

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	6. Chapter 6: Visitors of the Night

_Hey! This one wasn't late! Yay! I planned for this chapter to be longer, but it's a lot shorter than I had planned. Oh well._

--

**Chapter 6: Visitors of the Night**

A figure walked onto the edge of the roof, holding a cigarette in his hand. He looked out to the building in front of him. Unlike the thugs he brought with him, he wasn't nervous in the least. Still, this operation had to go well. He took a drag off of the cigarette and turned around to the thugs.

"Okay, listen up," he began. "It's almost time to strike. You all know what you must do. I've said it before, but let me emphasize this. Do NOT kill the woman. Let her escape. We are not here for her, we are here for Cooper. Understand?" The group nodded in unison. "Everything must go well tonight. I don't expect that we'll find Cooper's cane, but if you happen to see it, grab it. Hell, if we're lucky we won't even have to do anything that's too illegal." He chuckled to himself and turned back to the building. He looked at the second floor window closest to the street. There was no light coming from it, signifying that his targets were asleep. He looked out onto the empty street to make sure there were no cars coming.

"Let's go."

He did a leap off of the roof and rolled as he landed onto the soft grass. The rest of the group did the same, though not as gracefully as the mysterious man. As he walked towards the building, he passed through the streetlight revealing his features. It was Phillip Marakov. He was a white tiger, standing at almost six feet tall. There weren't any significant details about his face, save for a scar that went from the top of his right eyebrow all the way down to his mouth, skipping over his eye.

He crossed the street, with his band of thugs following closely behind, all with AK-47s strapped to their backs. If things went well, they wouldn't even need them. They followed their boss to the front of the apartment complex and headed up the stairs. They quickly ran to room 211 and waited. Marakov searched his pocket and pulled out a lock pick. He slid the device into the keyhole of the doorknob. The door was open in mere seconds. He slowly headed inside and beckoned his guards into the room. He held his Desert Eagle out in front of him. He wasn't going to use it to kill, but to intimidate. Any unnecessary deaths could screw everything up. Marakov led the group over to a closed door. He opened it slowly and looked inside the room. There he was. Sly Cooper. His target. He backed out of the room and closed the door a bit. He signaled for the group to come closer. He leaned into them.

"You two," he whispered, pointing towards two short guards, all dressed in black and wearing masks. "Search the house for the cane. I doubt you'll find it, but look anyways. The rest of you come with me. Let's do this." The thugs nodded.

Slowly, Marakov walked over to the door to Cooper's room and pushed it open. He holstered his gun as he quietly walked inside and signaled for his group to follow. One of the thugs broke off from the group and walked over to the side of the bed that Sly was sleeping on. He pulled out a syringe from his bag that he was carrying and primed it. As he came closer with the needle, he was unaware that the raccoon was wide awake. Without any warning, Sly jumped up out of bed and punched the thug in the face. He landed with a loud thud, which woke Carmelita up.

"Carmelita! We got company! Get your shock gun!" The shout echoed through the house and alerted the two other guards that the target was awake. They quickly rushed into the room to help.

Marakov cursed to himself. He ran up to Sly and tried to punch him in the gut, but the raccoon was too fast for him. Just as he went for the strike, Sly side stepped and threw Marakov to the ground. He grunted in pain. Just as Sly watched Marakov fall, another thug went straight towards him, but Sly wasn't ready for him. He took a fist right into the jaw. He countered with a kick to the stomach. The thug doubled over in pain. Sly grinned in satisfaction.

"That's really all you guys got? I'm almost disappointed."

Meanwhile, Carmelita was having trouble getting to her shock gun. She was currently fighting off three thugs, and there was no way she would be able to get over to the gun without a fight. She did a quick roundhouse kick into the face of a guard near her. He fell, only to get back up and re-join the fight. She went for a punch into another thug's jaw, but it was easily blocked. The thug grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground. She quickly jumped up off the floor and ran towards her dresser, where she kept her shock gun. She was able to grab it out of the top drawer before a thug slammed his arm into her back. She staggered and turned to aim at the thug. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, the thug pulled out a handgun and aimed at her face.

"NO!" Sly and Marakov both shouted. Sly looked at him in confusion. The tiger quickly pulled out his gun and shot the thug aiming at Carmelita in the head. He dropped quickly. Carmelita and Sly both wondered what had just happened, but they couldn't dwell on it now. One of the thugs may be dead, but there were still plenty more to take care of.

Carmelita was able to shoot one thug until one of the thugs shot the pistol out of her hands. She watched the gun fall onto the floor, destroyed. She suddenly went into a rage. That was her first and only Shock Pistol, and now it was gone. It wouldn't work again. She charged after the thug holding the weapon that destroyed her own, disregarding the fact that he could kill her with one pull of the trigger, and tackled him to the ground. She had him pinned down, belting him in the face repeatedly. She got off of the unconscious guard as she noticed one more guard who was going for her. She dodged his punch and kicked him between his legs. A cheap blow, maybe, but it was amusing watching the man writhe in pain on the ground. She smiled.

Sly wasn't doing as well though. He couldn't keep up with the four thugs currently attacking him. He took blow after blow. The raccoon was having trouble seeing straight. He couldn't take much more of this. If only he had his cane, he could take these guys on no problem. He stole a quick glance over to Carmelita to see how she was holding up. She was fighting... one thug? It seemed as though they were more concerned with him rather than with Carmelita. But why? As Sly thought this, he took a large fist to the face and fell onto the ground. The thugs around him quickly pinned him down as the white tiger went up to Sly with the syringe from earlier. Sly's eyes widened. Carmelita punched out the thug she was fighting and ran over to Sly. She stopped dead in her tracks as three thugs pulled their AK47s out and aimed at her.

"Carmelita..." The weakness in Sly's voice scared Carmelita. "Get out of here... run."

"No! Sly!"

"I'd do what he says Miss Fox." The tiger said. "After all, it'd be a shame to shoot such a pretty face."

"Shut the hell up! Who the hell are you and what do you want with Sly?"

The tiger chuckled. He then took the syringe and poked the needle into Sly's arm. He winced in pain. Carmelita watched in horror as the tiger injected the substance into Sly's bloodstream. The drug hit him fast. Already he felt woozy. He fought to stay conscious, but it was all in vain. Sly's eyes closed as he lost consciousness.

"NO! SLY!"

"Don't worry silly girl," the tiger said. "This won't kill him. Now why don't you follow his advice and get the hell out of here before we paint the wall behind you with your brains."

Carmelita hesitated. Was she really going to let these bastards just take Sly? Was she really going to leave him? As she eyed the AK-47s that were aimed at her, she realized that she had no choice. She headed out of the bedroom door, grabbed her duffel bag filled with clothes and her binocucom, and headed out of the apartment.

"Hmph," Marakov grunted. "Not as smooth as I would have liked, but we got the job done. Let's get out of here. The cops are sure to be closing in any minute." The thugs nodded.

"Sir, what about Roy?" Marakov looked down at the corpse that he had shot.

"Grab the body." He looked out the window to see a red convertible race down the street. She was gone. "Let's go."

He lifted Sly over his shoulder and headed out the door. He knew the cane wasn't here. Still, it wouldn't be long until he had it. Hopefully.

--

Carmelita's tears grew with each passing mile. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Someone had Sly. Someone who most likely wished to do him harm. Someone who would probably kill him.

And she did nothing to stop them.

She sobbed harder as she realized that there would be no way to figure out who took him. Sure, Interpol could search her apartment for clues, but she figured that all that was there was blood of one of the thugs. It was possible that they had left fur somewhere in the house, but it was useless until they could find a suspect with a match. Not only that, but what was the motive? What did they want with Sly? And above all, why did they let her escape? She couldn't think. She was tired and in pain. She couldn't stop crying over what happened.

Where should she go? She couldn't go back to her apartment. Not now. That would not only put her in danger, but she couldn't stand the fact that it was the same place where Sly was taken. If not the apartment, then where? She looked over to her duffel bag on the passenger's seat of her car. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head.

She pulled over and parked her car. She unzipped the bag and grabbed the binocucom out. She opened the door and got out of the car. She pulled the device up to her face and looked around. And then, there it was. The waypoint for the safe house. She had Bentley send her the coordinates when she visited the Cooper Gang. They would surely be asleep, but where else could she go? Her parents were in Spain along with her sister. Not only that, but she felt that if anyone could help her rescue Sly, it was the Cooper Gang.

She made up her mind. She got back into her car and sped off.

--

Bentley woke to a knocking sound on the front door. He looked at the clock and groaned. It was almost four in the morning. Who the hell would be visiting him at this hour? He sat up in bed and lifted himself onto his wheelchair. He slid on his glasses and headed to the door. He peaked through the eyehole and was surprised to see a distressed looking Inspector Fox. She almost looked like she had been crying. He opened the door.

"Carmelita? What are you doing here at this hour?"

"Bentley," she pleaded. "You gotta let me in. Please. I need your help." The turtle rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"With what?" Carmelita's tears welled up again. She couldn't bring herself to say it. It would only make her feel worse. Bentley noticed the tears in her eye.

"Carmelita?"

"Someone... someone took... him. Took Sly." And then, Carmelita broke down. She sobbed on the turtle's shoulder. Bentley, not knowing what to do, merely patted Carmelita on the back.

"Someone took him? As in kidnapped him?" Carmelita nodded. Bentley led the Inspector inside his house and sat her down on the armchair in the living room. "What happened Carmelita? Who took Sly?" Carmelita shook her head.

"I... I don't know. I mean, Sly woke me up and I saw that there were tons of thugs in our apartment. We tried to fight them off, but it was too much for Sly. Most of the thugs were focused on him. They... they injected him with something and he lost consciousness. They let me escape though. I don't know why. I guess they only needed Sly, but I have no idea what for." Carmelita's sobbing ceased, but the tears kept flowing.

"There's no way of knowing who took him?" Bentley asked.

"Most of them were wearing masks. Those who weren't... well... I couldn't make out their faces. It was too dark."

"What about someone you know? Does anyone have some sort of grudge against him?"

"Not that I know of." Bentley sighed. It was never that easy. Suddenly, Carmelita felt a vibration in her front pocket. Her cell phone. She brought it out and read the caller ID. It was the Chief.

"Fox here."

_"Carmelita, someone at the apartment complex you live at called about a disturbance. They say they heard gunshots coming from your apartment room. There are officers on the scene now, and there's nothing there but a large puddle of blood, as well as a few other blood splatters. What happened?"_

"Sly and I were attacked in our sleep."

"_What?! Attacked? Are you okay?"_

"...No."

"_What do you mean no?"_

"They... they took Sly." There was silence on the other end for a few seconds

"_Oh shit."_

"It seemed as though they needed something from him. They made sure to keep both of us alive." She shuddered at the thought of the dead thug.

"_Did you see who attacked you?"_

"No. Most of them wore masks. Besides, it was too dark to see anyone's face."

_"Damn it."_ Carmelita sat in silence. She didn't know what to say. Besides, she was too choked up at the moment to talk. _"Carmelita, I don't want you coming to work today."_

"No. I'm coming in. I want to see the report on the investigation."

_"Carmelita. I can't even imagine what you're feeling right now, but I insist that you don't come in today."_

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't do that." The Chief sighed.

_"Fine. Where are you right now?"_ Carmelita hesitated.

"I can't tell you sir."

_"...I understand. We'll have a report for you when you come in."_

"Good. I'll see you later then."

_"Okay. And Carmelita?"_

"Yes sir?

_"...I'm sorry."_

"Yeah, me too." Carmelita slapped her cell phone shut and groaned. She was hurting, physically as well as emotionally. Not to mention that she was dead tired.

"I imagine you'd like to sleep," Bentley commented. "You can stay here as long as you like. I have a spare bedroom."

"...Thanks Bentley." Bentley led her to a small bedroom. Before leaving her be, he gave her a reassuring smile.

"Hey! Don't worry! This isn't the first time I've had to save Sly's ass." Carmelita actually managed a small laugh.

"I'm going to bed. Maybe some sleep will clear my head."

"Okay. Good night Carmelita."

"Night Bentley."

She headed over to the bed and lie down. She was too tired to even pull the covers over her. She merely lay there, wondering where Sly was and if he was okay. She was overwhelmed with worry for her future husband. She prayed that he was okay, wherever he was. In the middle of her thoughts, her fatigue finally overcame her and she fell asleep.

--

_So, we finally got a taste of the first bit of action in this story. Hopefully it won't be the last!_

_So it's totally almost the weekend! Yay! That means I'll have all the time in the world to write chapter 7! One more thing. As you know, I have the basic outline of this story already in mind, and I've already got ideas for a sequel. Will it happen? Who knows. I'm hoping it will, because I really like the idea I have for it. Should I do it? You tell me!_

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	7. Chapter 7: When a Stranger Calls

_And, chapter 7 is here! Sorry about the lateness. Work/social life/video games/guitar really takes up my free time. _

_I've decided to do the sequel. Actually, I kind of knew I was going to do it a long time ago. Like, during the third chapter actually. I just never really announced that I had ideas of a sequel until chapter 6._

_Okay! Read on!_

--

**Chapter 7: When a Stranger Calls**

"Ngh, my head."

Those were Sly's first words as he woke up, laying face down on a solid ground floor. He was badly bruised and his face was covered in dried blood, but he couldn't remember why. He looked up, and found himself in a cell. He got himself to his feet quickly, only to fall back down on his knees. Whatever they drugged him with made him extremely drowsy. He looked around in the cell. There was nothing more than a single toilet. They didn't even provide him with a bed. But who exactly were "they?" Who had taken him to this cell? He tried to remember what happened. He slowly pieced together the events from the night before. He remembered being attacked. Why? What were they there for? Why did they kidnap him? Carmelita... Did she escape? Is she okay? There was no way for Sly to know. He didn't have any way to contact her.

He slowly got to his feet and paced around in his cell to try and wake up. He walked to the cell door to see if he could pick the lock, only to find that it was an electronic lock, probably controlled by the computer terminal across the room from the cell. Cursing to himself, he sat back down on the hard ground. A few minutes passed, and the raccoon began to get annoyed. Where were the people who took him? Surely they would've left someone to guard his cell? And then he saw it. In the corner of the room, facing his cell, there was a surveillance camera. He looked up at it, gave it a dirty look, and turned away. Surely they would send someone in soon. They had to know that he was awake. And yet, no one came. Sly grew angry.

"Hey!" Sly yelled to no one in particular. "I'm awake you bastards! You're not even going to send someone in to gloat?" Sly waited, but no one came. He punched the wall near him in anger. He sat back down on the floor. Suddenly, the door to the room opened. A white tiger walked into the room.

"Phillip Marakov," Sly said, with no emotion. The tiger smiled.

"Very astute Cooper." He walked closer to the cell. "I must say, it's quite a sight. Sly Cooper, finally behind bars."

"Shut the hell up and tell me what you want with me," Sly demanded. The anger in his voice was more than obvious. Marakov chuckled.

"Okay. I'll get right to the point then. I need your family cane, and you're going to tell me where it is." Sly's face went from angry to confused.

"My cane? Why do you want it? And what the hell makes you think I'd ever tell you where it is?"

"Oh, you'll tell me. Trust me." Marakov smirked evilly. "But, we'll get to that later. As to why I need it, it should be obvious." Sly said nothing at first, but then he realized what the arms dealer was talking about. Sly's eyes widened.

"The Cooper Vault..." Sly grew silent for a moment. "Don't you think that you're going a little overboard for something as simple as money?"

"Ha! Money. The root of all evil, as the saying goes. You don't understand Sly. I'm not just after your money."

"Then what are you after if it's not just money? That's all there is in the vault." Marakov chuckled again.

"You can't even begin to understand what I'm after Sly."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter what I mean. If you really want to know why I'm after your family vault, you'll have to somehow find out yourself." He smiled. "Though, I'm sure that if you haven't found anything other than riches in your vault, then you'll probably never find out."

"What are you talking about? Are you saying there's something hidden in my family vault?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Sly sighed.

"Fine, don't tell me. I don't care. That doesn't change the fact that I'm not going to tell you where my cane is."

"That's what you think Sly," Marakov told him. "Just wait. You will tell us."

"How did you even know about my family vault anyways?"

"A little bird told me." Marakov smiled at the angry raccoon. Sly said nothing. He had no idea what he was talking about. "I'll leave you be for now Sly. I'll see you in a while. Rest up while you still can." He gave the raccoon one last smirk before walking through the door. Sly sat back down on the ground. How was he going to get out of here? He could only hope that Carmelita was able to escape and get help. He didn't like the tone that Marakov had when he was talking to Sly. He thought about what the tiger said to him before.

_"Just wait. You will tell us."_ He sounded way too confident for comfort. What was going to happen? Why was he so sure that Sly would tell him where the cane is? He didn't seem worried at all.

For the first time in his entire life, Sly was scared of a criminal.

-

The Chief threw a folder onto the desk of Inspector Carmelita Fox. She was sitting in her chair, drinking coffee and reading over a few case files. She had tried avoiding the other officers within the building. She didn't feel like dealing with any of them today. They had surely heard of what had happened, and she didn't feel like hearing all the pity.

"This is all we could find." The Chief had a solemn look on his face. Carmelita picked up the file and looked through it.

"Blood. That's all you found?" She asked with a disappointed tone.

"Yes," the Chief replied. "And, as of our knowledge, there were no witnesses other than you."

"Damn it." She slammed her fist on the desk in frustration. "We have no suspects, little evidence, and no leads."

"I'm sorry." He gave the inspector a sympathetic look. "Carmelita, I know you don't want to, but please. Go home, or wherever you're staying right now. You have the case file now, and you're in no condition to work today." Carmelita sighed. He was right. She couldn't focus today. She was too worried about Sly.

"Fine." She got up and headed towards the door. Suddenly, she realized something. She turned back to the chief. "Sir, I forgot to tell you. My shock pistol was destroyed during the attack." The Chief nodded.

"Go and take one from the supply room."

"Thank you sir."

She headed out the door. Maybe Bentley and the others would be more help. After all, the Cooper Gang had a knack of finding criminals that Interpol couldn't find.

-

One hour had passed before Marakov returned to Sly's cell. However, this time, he brought a few armed guards with him. He walked over to the computer terminal as the guards walked towards the cell door. They had their guns pointed towards Sly. Marakov typed a few commands into the terminal, and the door opened. He walked into Sly's cell. Sly stood up.

"Okay Sly. Time for our little interrogation." He led Sly out of the cell, where one of the guards smacked the former thief's head with the butt of his gun. He fell down, unconscious.

When he regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that he couldn't move is arms or legs. He looked over to them to find that they were strapped down tight onto a metal table. There was a strange metal device going around his chest, with wires coming out of it. His face fell. He understood exactly what was going on.

"Finally awake eh?" said an unfamiliar voice. Sly lifted his head slightly to look at the man standing by the table. The man was a badger, no taller than Sly was. "So, I finally meet the infamous Sly Cooper. It is quite an honor. I'm Jacob Carson."

"I don't care who you are," Sly said. The man smirked.

"Fair enough. Let's get started shall we? I assume that you already know what I plan to do here, but allow me to clarify. We need your cane, and we're willing to do whatever it takes to get it. You can save us the trouble, and save yourself the pain, if you tell me right now where it is."

Sly's heart pounded. He'd rather not endure what they were planning to do to him, but he wasn't about to tell them where it was. Not only would that give them full access to his vault, but it would put Bentley, Penelope, and Murray in danger. He breathed in deeply and gave his reply.

"No."

Carson frowned. "An unwise decision, my friend. Still, it will be fun testing this thing out." He walked over to the control pad attached to the table, punched in a few commands.

Electricity shot throughout Sly's body. It was unlike anything that Sly had ever experienced. Every nerve in his body exploded in pain. He couldn't keep the scream from escaping his lips. The large room echoed with the sounds of a man in terrible pain. Sly knew nothing. There was no time, no space, no emotion, no sense, nothing. Only pain.

And then, it stopped.

Sly's body twitched involuntarily. The pain subsided a little, but Sly could still feel the electricity going through his body. He breathed heavily. It was worse than he had anticipated.

"Y'know, this is the first time I've actually used this. I've never been able to test it. Since it's the first time, I was hoping you could give me some feedback. Tell me Sly, how painful was it? What would you compare it to? A thousand needles stabbing your entire body perhaps? Or maybe being thrown into a pit of fire?" Sly said nothing. He was still trying to stop twitching. "Now, about that cane of yours..."

"...piss off..." Sly's voice was shaky and weak.

"Tsk tsk. I will not tolerate such vulgarity in my torture chamber Mr. Cooper. Didn't your parents ever tell you that it's not nice to swear?" Carson smiled. "Or can you not remember them? I mean, it's been so long since you last saw them hasn't it?" Sly's face hardened. "Where exactly are they anyways Sly? Are they dead? I heard that Clockwerk and his cohorts killed them. Is that true?" Sly kept his silence. Carson was trying to get to him. And it was working. "Can you remember it Sly? The scream of your mother as that last little bit of life left her body? The sound of metal talons ripping through your father's bones? The gruesome image of your parents, lying in a large pool of their own blood? Do you remember?" He edged his fingers closer to the console.

"Shut the hell up you bastard!" Sly growled.

Suddenly, Sly felt the pain again as the electricity surged through his body. It almost felt worse this time. Did he increase the voltage? The scream was louder. Although it only lasted a few seconds, Sly thought it lasted for hours. It was soon over.

"What did I say about vulgarity? There are consequences for those who don't follow my rules Sly." Sly couldn't even comprehend what Carson was saying. The pain was too great. He could barely think. Carson smiled at the raccoon. "This is going to be a fun day."

-

Later that night...

Carmelita sighed as she sat down on the couch and watched TV. She couldn't believe it. There was absolutely nothing she could do at the moment. The case file proved to be fairly useless, and all that the Cooper Gang could do was give their suspicions. Carmelita had a possible suspect, Phillip Marakov. He was the only one who had a possible motive. After all, he was being tracked by Sly. But she had no idea where he might be. No one knew where his operation was based. Bentley was still trying to find a way to find Sly, but it was harder than he thought it would be. As she watched the news, Bentley walked over to her.

"Any luck?" she asked, hopefully. Bentley shook his head.

"He could be anywhere, even if Marakov took him. There are just too many places to search. I've tried narrowing it down, but there's still dozens of places to search. It could take weeks to find him if we began searching all possible locations, and by then..." Bentley's voice trailed off. He didn't want to finish that sentence.

"Damn it."

"I'll keep looking. We'll find him. Don't worry."

Carmelita watched as the turtle wheeled himself back to his room, to search on his laptop. Carmelita sighed. Suddenly, her cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the caller ID, expecting the Chief. It wasn't the Chief. It was a blocked number. Carmelita looked at it in confusion. She opened the phone and brought it up to her ear.

"Fox here."

_"Hello there Inspector Carmelita Fox."_ The other line had a low voice. Carmelita's face hardened.

"Who is this?"

_"No one in particular,"_ The other line replied.

"Who the hell are-?"

_"We have him,"_ the other line interrupted. Carmelita gasped. It was them. The ones who attacked their apartment.

"You bastard."

_"Now is not the time for name calling Miss Fox. There are more important matters at hand."_

"Where is he?!" Carmelita shouted into the phone. The voice on the other line chuckled.

_"Don't worry. We're taking real good care of him."_

"Why are you after Sly?"

_"We're not after him. We're after his cane."_

"His cane? All this because of a stupid cane?"

_"Heh, you're more naive than he is."_ The voice chuckled again. _"If you want to see him again, you'll do as I say."_

"What do you want from me?"

_"You will meet with one of our clients at the cafe by the water tower in a half an hour. You will come alone. You will bring Sly's cane."_ Carmelita hesitated before answering.

"How do I know this isn't some sort of trap?"

_"You can't know for sure,"_ the voice answered. He paused for a second. _"I know just what will make you agree to give us the cane."_

"What do you mean?"

_"Just one second."_ Carmelita thought she heard the sound of someone tapping on a keyboard. _"Carson, turn on the microphone from in there."_ Suddenly, Carmelita heard a heavy breathing, as if someone was out of breath. She heard a second, unfamiliar voice.

_"Well my friend, things just got a little more interesting."_ No one said anything. The heavy breathing continued_. "You must be in pain. We've been at this for a few hours, yes?" _Carmelita heard someone groan, as if in pain. _"You know how to stop the pain. Tell me. Where is it?"_

_"Go to hell."_ It was Sly. His voice was incredibly weak. It was almost a whisper. Suddenly, he screamed. Carmelita held the phone away from her ear. She heard the snapping of electricity behind the loud screams. After a few seconds, the screaming stopped. The heavy breathing started up again.

_"You know, someone is listening into our little chat right now,"_ she heard the other voice say. _"Do you know who it is?" _Sly said nothing. _"It's Carmelita."_

_"Carmelita!"_ Sly shouted. _"Don't do what they say! They'll kill you!"_ He suddenly screamed again. Carmelita winced at the sound. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The screaming was suddenly cut off.

_"Hello again, Carmelita."_ It was the voice from before. The one who had called.

"You... you sick bastards..."

_"You got thirty minutes. Bring the cane."_ The other line hung up. Carmelita stared out in front of her with an open mouth. Her lower lip was trembling.

"What did they say?" Bentley asked. Carmelita turned to him.

"They said to bring the cane to a cafe in a half an hour." She got up and headed to the closet. She opened the door and pulled out Sly's cane.

"You're not really going to go are you?" She nodded. "Carmelita, what if this is a trap? What if, once they have the cane, they kill both you and Sly?"

"What the hell else are we supposed to do Bentley?" she shouted. Murray and Penelope walked into the room.

"Geez, could you be any louder?" Penelope asked. "What's going on anyways?"

"The people who took Sly want his cane," Bentley told her. She looked at Carmelita.

"And you're going to give it to them?" Murray asked. Carmelita nodded. "Are you crazy?"

"This is the only thing we can do that might save Sly. I'm going. Don't follow me." She walked out the door holding Sly's cane, ignoring the protests from behind. She got into her car and drove off.

--

_Chapter 7: Done._

_So, what is Marakov really after? What else is in the Cooper Vault that would be of use to him besides money? Is there some sort of secret treasure hidden within the Vault? Something that Sly doesn't know about? You'll have to wait and see!_

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	8. Chapter 8: Infiltration

_Okay. Chapter 8 is here. Wow, this came pretty early compared to my last updates._

_Enjoy!_

_--_

**Chapter 8: Infiltration**

Carmelita leaned against the water tower and waited. She checked her watch. They should be here soon. It had almost been a half an hour. She looked at Sly's cane. She remembered the Cooper Vault. No one could get in without the cane. She sighed. All of this, because of money. She didn't think that criminals could be this crazy, or sick. She shuddered as she remembered Sly's screams. She started to tear up again.

A few minutes had passed, and no one came. She began to grow agitated. She walked up to the cafe and sat down on one of the chairs outside of the building. She checked her watch again. They were late. She looked around and saw no one. She leaned back into her chair and looked up at the water tower. Her eyes widened as she saw a figure standing on top of it, with a rifle. She quickly ducked down just as it fired.

"Shit!" she yelled. Bentley was right. It was a trap. She pulled out her shock pistol and fired up at the water tower. The figure leaped onto the roof next to it and ran. Carmelita got to her feet and sprinted towards the assassin. She jumped onto the awning of the building where the figure was running and onto the roof. The figure jumped from one roof to another, trying to escape Carmelita. She began to catch up. The figure took his rifle and fired off another shot, but he missed. He took off again. He jumped off of the building he was on and ran through the streets.

Carmelita kept to the roofs however, as she had a better vantage point. She jumped from roof to roof, following the assassin wherever he went. Where was he going though? Carmelita thought that he might be running back to his hideout. Suddenly, she had an idea. She knew that he wouldn't be stupid enough to go back to his hideout with a cop on his tail. Carmelita stopped firing her gun, and focused on following the criminal, while staying out of sight. After a few minutes of chasing, the figure stopped running. He looked around. Carmelita ducked down as his gaze passed over her position. He saw no one. He then began running down an alley. Carmelita ran to the edge of the roof and pulled out her binocucom. She zoomed in to see the figure walk up to a door on the side of one of the buildings. He walked in.

"Bingo," Carmelita muttered to herself. That had to be where they were keeping Sly. She pressed a button on the binocucom. Bentley's face appeared on the bottom left side of the screen.

"Bentley, I think I might have found where they're keeping Sly."

_"Really? Are you sure?"_

"Not entirely, but it's definitely a good place to start. Can you send a waypoint of my position to my binocucom?"

_"Sure, just give me a second."_ After a few seconds, a blue arrow suddenly appeared where Carmelita was looking.

"Thanks. Should I head back?" The turtle thought for a second.

_"Not yet. We're not even sure that Sly is really in there, so we can't really draw up a plan to save him. Besides, I don't know anything about the layout of that place. How are you at reconnaissance?"_ Carmelita sighed.

"Well, Sly was always much better at that than I was at Interpol, but I can manage. I'm guessing you need me to infiltrate the building?"

_"Well, yes."_ Carmelita shook her head.

"Damn it." She never was one for breaking and entering, even if it was the home of a known criminal. Still, this was probably the only way she would be able to help Sly. "Fine, I'll agree to it. How am I going to get in though?"

_"Come on Carmelita!"_ Bentley said. _"You chased Sly for years! Surely you learned something about breaking and entering a building without being seen!"_

"I never really paid attention to that," Carmelita said. "I was too wrapped up in arresting him."

_"Well, think! Okay, how did Sly break into Interpol HQ way back when he stole his criminal file?"_ Carmelita thought for a second.

"He went through the air vent on the roof."

_"Exactly! With a building this big, there's sure to be a way in from the top! Most likely an air vent."_ Carmelita sighed again.

"Okay, I'm on my way."

_"One more thing Carmelita. If you find Sly, don't do anything stupid. We can't safely get him out of there without a plan. All we need are some recon photos. Take pictures of anything interesting you find. Machines, cameras, safes, computer terminals, anything you can find that you think might be useful. All of the pictures you take will automatically be sent to my laptop."_ Carmelita nodded.

"I understand. Do you want me to take a picture of the building itself?"

_"Yes."_

"Okay. I'm on it." She pressed the button on the binocucom and the transmission was cut off. She took a few pictures of the front of the building and dropped down onto the street. She went through the alley and found a ladder that led up to the roof of the building. She climbed it and looked for a way in. Sure enough, there was an air vent, just large enough for Carmelita to crawl through. She pried off the cover with Sly's cane and laid down in front of the opening. She pulled her self into the vent and started to crawl through it.

It was dark, and she could barely see her hand in front of her face. She continued to crawl through the vent, not knowing what she would find. She turned to the left and continued crawling. She saw a faint light on the side of the vent a few meters from her position. She crawled up to it and looked through the vent cover. She found a room that held a type of cell. She pulled out a binocucom and took a picture of the cell.

_"Hmm,"_ Bentley said after she took the photo. _"If Sly's really here, then that's most likely where they're keeping him when they're not interrogating him."_ He studied the photo more. _"It looks like it's locked electronically. That explains why Sly couldn't pick the lock. Look around and see if you can find a computer terminal somewhere in the room."_ Carmelita looked around the room and found the terminal. She snapped another photo.

_"Thought so. We'll have to hack into that terminal to open the cell door."_ Carmelita was about to continue on until she spotted a camera, pointed at the cell door.

"Bentley, there's a surveillance camera pointed at the cell." She took a picture of it.

_"Well, that's going to complicate things. I'll think of something."_ Carmelita tucked her binocucom into her pocket and continued crawling through the air vent. Suddenly, she hit a dead end. There was only one way to go; straight down. She knew that if she made too much noise while going down, she could be discovered. She positioned herself so that she could go down feet first. She spread her legs and pushed her feet against either side of the vent, hard. She slowly pushed herself down. When she got far enough, she pushed her hands on either side of the vent. She slowly edged herself down until she reached the bottom. Quietly, she placed her feet on the bottom of the vent and ducked down into a crawl. Suddenly, she heard a strange noise coming from far away. She couldn't tell, but she thought it might have been a scream. Her face fell. She must have been close to the torture room.

As she continued on, the scream became louder and louder. Between the screams, she could hear a man talking, but she couldn't make out the words. She stopped at a vent cover and looked through it. Sure enough, there was Sly, strapped to a metal table. She pulled out her binocucom and took a few pictures of the room. She then pressed a button on the device, and Bentley's face appeared. She zoomed in. A badger was standing near the table, talking.

"You're a tough one Sly. I can't believe that you're able to bear this much pain. You really are determined. Tell me, why do you refuse to tell us where the cane is?" Sly coughed.

"I'm not going to give in to you bastards." His voice was hoarse, as if he had a sore throat from the screaming.

"Poor Sly. You don't seem to understand. We have other ways of finding your cane." Suddenly, the door across from the room opened. A white tiger walked in. Carmelita gasped. It was Phillip Marakov.

"The idiot failed to get the cane from Carmelita," he said. Sly's ears perked up. Marakov looked at the raccoon and smiled. "Yes Sly, we had to resort to your little girlfriend to try and get the cane. She is quite the gullible one. So determined to save you, she's willing to put herself in danger to do so." Sly said nothing.

"Damn it. He failed to kill her?" the badge said.

"Yes. Our little trap failed. Seems she knew he was there before he took the shot." Sly, despite the situation, smiled.

"You idiots... it takes a lot more than a trap to stop her." The badger quickly punched a few commands, and Sly screamed out in pain. Carmelita's jaw dropped. Sly's body was twitching violently. She looked away.

_"Oh my god..."_ was all that Bentley could manage to say. The screaming suddenly ceased. Carmelita was crying quietly. It was bad enough having to listen to Sly's screams of pain over the phone, but it was quite another to watch him endure that much pain in person.

"Watch your tongue Sly," the badger said. He turned to Marakov. "What now? He's not going to tell us where it is." Marakov thought for a moment.

"Continue the interrogation. If he still refuses to talk after an hour, take him back to the cell and we'll try again tomorrow. If he still doesn't tell us by tomorrow night, we'll kill him." Sly's eyes widened. Marakov looked into Sly's eyes and smiled. "Maybe that will convince Carmelita to hand over the cane." He left the room. Carmelita brought the binocucom back to her face.

"Did you hear that Bentely?"

_"Yes. Oh god... Sly. Those... those..."_

"I know," Carmelita said. "We need to get him out of there pronto. They're bringing him back to the cell in one hour. I'm coming back to the safe house. Think you can cook up a plan in an hour? We gotta get him out tonight!"

_"I think so."_

"Okay. I'll see you in a bit." She put her binocucom away and headed back the way she came.

-

"Okay, I've got somewhat of a plan. It's fairly simple actually." Bentley had a slideshow set up in the living room. Murray, Penelope, and Carmelita were sitting down watching him speak. He switched the slide to a picture of the surveillance camera. "Unfortunately, nothing can be done about the surveillance camera. If we try to somehow disrupt the signal, the guards will come running to see what's wrong. No matter what we do, it's going to be a bit of a fight trying to get Sly out of there. Luckily, the camera is only pointed towards the cell door." The picture changed to a small compact disk. "Here's the plan. This disk holds one of my own special hacking programs. With it, I'll be able to control whatever is on that computer terminal from my laptop. Carmelita, you need to get into that room through the vent cover. Avoid the camera's point of view and upload the program into the terminal. This should allow me to open the cell door. Unfortunately, the opening in the air vent is far too high for you and Sly to climb up, and I'm sure that Sly will be in no condition to do any climbing anyways. So, I'm sorry to say, you'll have to escape through the front door."

"Damn it. Well, it shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as I have my shock pistol."

"Exactly my thoughts. Once the door is open, the guards will come running. Murray, you'll need to be our getaway driver. Have the van parked somewhere close enough so you can pick Sly and Carmelita up on short notice."

"Got it!"

"What about Interpol?" Carmelita asked. "Is there a way they can help out?" Bentley shook his head.

"That would only make things more complicated. Well, that's the plan. Let's go save Sly!"

-

Sly lay face down in his cell. He was in far too much pain to do anything else. He had been tortured for nearly ten hours. He couldn't stand the pain. It just wouldn't go away. The room smelled of burnt fur. His muscles ached terribly. He could barely move his arms or legs. He tried to sleep, but the aching kept him wide awake.

They were going to kill him. He knew that. Still, he wasn't about to tell them where his cane was. He wasn't going to sacrifice his friends to save himself. All he could do was hope that somehow, Bentley had a plan to get him out of there. He had always come through in the past. He was certain that Carmelita was probably staying at his house, and he probably knew the whole story.

Just as he thought this, he heard a strange noise coming from somewhere inside the room. He looked around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until the cover to the air vent in the room came off. He saw Carmelita. His jaw dropped. He was about to say something, but she brought her finger up to her mouth, signaling for him to be quiet. She pointed over to the surveillance camera. Sly understood. He had to pretend nothing happened, or the guards would come running.

Carmelita dropped down into the room and looked at the surveillance camera. Luckily, it wasn't moving. That would make things easy. She walked over to the computer terminal, making sure to stay out of the camera's line of vision. She opened up the disk drive and uploaded Bentley's hacking program. She watched the screen as the program installed into the terminal.

"It's done," she whispered into her binocucom. After a few minutes, the cell door opened. Suddenly, an alarm in the building went off. "Damn it, that didn't take long." She pulled out her shock pistol as she ran into the cell. She dropped down by Sly. "Sly, can you stand?" He nodded.

"I think so." He slowly got up to his feet. It was painful, but he knew he had to endure it to get out of there. As soon as he was at his feet, Carmelita hugged him, crying.

"Oh god, I can't believe what they did to you. I saw them..." She sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'll be okay Carmelita. I promise. Now let's get out of here." She nodded. Carmelita led Sly over to the door leading into the room. She opened it slowly and found herself in a hallway. She looked around and saw that there were no guards.

"Come on." She went left in the hall way and peered around the corner. She found the stairs, but there were a few guards running up it. "Damn it. Sly, stay back." She aimed her shock pistol towards the running guards. Right as they spotted her, she began to fire. One guard went down before they were able to return fire. Carmelita ducked behind the wall and waited for the right moment. She listened closely. Then, she heard it. The firing stopped as one of the guards reloaded. She jumped out and fired at the guard. He went down quickly. Before the last guard could retaliate, Carmelita shot another shock bullet into him. He fell down, unconscious.

"That's all the guards they sent?" Carmelita wondered why there were only three. Surely they would have sent more. She ran down the stairs, with Sly following close behind. They found themselves in a large room, with a metal table in the middle of it. There was a door across from the room. Sly shuddered as he looked at the table. They headed towards the door. Before they could get there, it opened. Phillip Marakov walked in carrying a Desert Eagle. He aimed it at Carmelita.

"Sorry, but this is as far as you two get."

_--_

_Phew. Chapter 8 is done. _

_I'm not 100 percent proud of how this one turned out, but it's not bad, I think. Still, it could be better. I also expected it to be much longer. Oh well._

_Well I have passed 20,000 words with this chapter. Umm, yayz?_

_We're nearing the end of this fic. And right after this is finished, I will begin the sequel._

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	9. Chapter 9: Escape

_Had a bit of trouble writing this chapter. Damn writer's block._

--

**Chapter 9: Escape**

Carmelita stared at the white tiger standing in front of her and Sly. Marakov had his Desert Eagle aimed straight at her. She quickly aimed her shock pistol back at him. He smiled.

"By the time you fire your little toy at me, the bullet from my gun will have already passed through your head. I suggest putting the weapon down Inspector." She looked around for anything that she could use as a distraction, but there was nothing more than the torture table and a few other machines. She slowly placed the shock pistol on the ground and put her hands in the air, along with Sly. "Push your pistol over to me. Slowly." Carmelita kicked her shock pistol over to Markov. He picked it up, looked at it for a moment, and threw it across the room. He kept his gun aimed at Carmelita.

"I see you didn't bring the cane," Marakov said. "Most unfortunate. Both of you get down on your knees and place your hands on your head." Carmelita and Sly both did as they were told. Marakov chuckled. "You know, I never thought I'd ever be in a position where I would have to make a difficult choice such as this." Carmelita's heart was pounding. "You see, I have but a single gun. And yet, there are two of you. Such a tough decision. Who shall I kill first?" He panned his gun over to Sly's head. "Shall I kill Inspector Sly Cooper? The one who has been after me for almost a month? The one who owns the very object I am after?" He looked over to Carmelita and aimed his gun at her. "Or shall I kill the beautiful Inspector Carmelita Fox?"

"Don't kill her!" Sly interrupted. "Please!" Marakov smiled at the raccoon.

"Actually, I have a better idea." He walked in front of Sly and Carmelita to face them. "As you both know, I am still after Sly's cane." Sly looked angrily at the arms dealer. "We can avoid all of this, if you just tell me where it is."

"I don't believe you," Carmelita said. "You'll just kill us as soon as we tell you."

"I see you have no reason to trust me." Marakov looked at Carmelita. Suddenly, an evil idea came to him. "Well, I think I'll kill you first, Inspector Fox." He aimed his gun at her.

"No! Don't shoot her!" Sly yelled desperately.

"Why? Do you love her Sly?" Sly felt tears pouring down his face. "How adorable. Tell me where the cane is Sly, and I'll let her go." Sly looked over at Carmelita. She had a frightened look on her face as she eyed Marakov's Desert Eagle. Sly couldn't put her in danger. He couldn't bear the thought of her being killed because of him. He took a deep breath.

"Okay, I'll tell you," Sly finally said.

"Sly! No! Don't tell him!" Carmelita pleaded.

"Where is it Sly?" Marakov said, ignoring Carmelita.

"It's... it's at a safe house that belongs to Bentley and Penelope."

"The same house you and Carmelita walked out of last night?" Sly nodded. Marakov pulled his gun away from Carmelita. "You made the right choice Sly." Suddenly, he aimed it at Sly's head. "Good-bye."

"What the hell are you doing?!" Carmelita shouted. "You said you'd let us go if he told you!" Marakov smirked.

"I do believe I said I would let you go. Not him." Sly's eyes widened. Suddenly, before he could pull the trigger, Carmelita jumped up and threw her body into Marakov. He staggered and pulled the trigger.

"Agh!" Sly went down face first. He was shot in the arm.

Carmelita wanted anything to look over at Sly to see if he was okay. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option right now. She was too busy dealing with Marakov. She grabbed his right arm and tried to swipe the gun from his hands. The sound of gunshots filled the room as the two fought over the weapon. In the middle of it all, the gun dropped from his hands. He dove for it, but Carmelita kicked it across the room before he could pick it up. While he was on the ground, she kicked him in the ribs and made a run for the gun. As she ran past Marakov, he grabbed her leg and pulled. She fell to the ground.

Carmelita ignored the pain and jumped up from the ground. She tried to get in front of the tiger before he could get up and make a run for the gun. As he got up she punched him in the jaw. He retaliated with a kick, but Carmelita caught his leg and threw him to the ground. She made a dash for the Desert Eagle. It was so close. She just needed to get to it and she'll be fine. She was suddenly tackled to the ground by Marakov. Before he got up off of her, he punched her in the face. She thrust her leg up and hit him between the legs, and he went down. She got up and ran over to the gun. She picked it up and aimed it at the white tiger. He looked up and his eyes widened.

"Make one move that I don't okay and you're dead. Get it?" Carmelita had an unusual anger in her voice. Sly hadn't ever heard it before. Carmelita kept the gun aimed at Marakov's head. Anger burned within her eyes. This man was responsible for everything that had been going on. He was the reason why Sly was in so much pain. He had tortured Sly continuously, and now he had shot him in the arm. She pulled out a pair of cuffs from her jeans and pressed the barrel of the gun hard into Marakov's head. She grabbed one of his arms and placed one cuff around his wrist. Before he could do anything that could put her in danger, she quickly cuffed the other wrist. "Stay down," she said dangerously. She ran over to Sly and knelt down next to him. He tried to push himself off the ground, but the pain he was feeling was too much for him.

"Don't move," Carmelita told him. "It'll only make it worse." She pulled out her binocucom and brought it to her face. "Bentley. I've got Sly. He's been shot. We're going to need some help getting out of here. Marakov is in cuffs, but there's still his partner to deal with. Not to mention he probably has tons of guards in this place."

_"Understood,"_ Bentley said. _"I assume the vent cover in the cell room is still open, yes?"_

"Umm, yeah why?" Carmelita asked, confused.

_"Just wait a couple minutes. You'll see."_ The transmission was cut off. Carmelita put the device away in her coat pocket. She looked down at Sly. She slowly turned him over onto his back. She bent down and kissed Sly.

"You holding up alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sly replied. "Hurts like hell, but I'll survive." Carmelita took a quick look over at Marakov to make sure he was still there. She pulled out her binocucom again and brought it up to her face.

"Bentley, I have to report this to Interpol. I know you said they would complicate things, but we have Marakov in cuffs now. Getting out of here should be much easier."

_"Do what you gotta do."_

Carmelita put the binocucom away and brought out her cell phone to call the Chief. He was rather surprised to head that she had Phillip Marakov in custody, and he couldn't believe that Sly was there as well. He sent backup to the building to take Marakov in. Just as she closed the cell phone, she heard a strange chopping sound. It almost sounded like a small helicopter.

And that's exactly what it was.

_"Ha! Betcha didn't know I still had one of these babies!"_ Penelope said through Carmelita's binocucom. Sly smirked.

"Well, that will certainly make things much easier," Sly said. He slowly got to his feet. He stumbled a bit from the pain and blood loss, but he had to bear it until they got out of there. Carmelita walked over to her shock pistol and picked it up. She looked to make sure nothing was broken.

"One more thing before we go," she said. She walked over to Marakov, who glared angrily at her. She aimed her shock pistol at him and fired. The electricity hit him on his lower back and surged throughout his body. He shouted out in pain, and went unconscious. Carmelita smiled. "That's payback for what you did to Sly you bastard."

They headed out of the torture room and ran down the stairs to the first floor, where they found a few guards patrolling the rooms. Carmelita had Sly wait at the top of the stairs, as he was in no condition to dodge gunfire. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, two of the guards noticed her immediately and aimed their weapons at her. Before they fired off any shots, Carmelita fired her shock pistol at one of them. The other guard opened fire, but Carmelita ducked out of the way. She took another shot at the guard and the surge of electricity hit the guard right in the chest. Suddenly, about a dozen more guards came running to see what was going on. Two of them went down from shots from Carmelita's pistol before the others were able to pull out their guns from behind their backs. Carmelita ducked behind a crate of weapons for cover. She needed to think of something fast. There was no way she could bring down that many guards by herself. And then, she remembered the helicopter. She pulled out her binocucom.

"I could use a little help here Pen," she said. She waited until she heard a chopping noise from over the gunfire. Some of the guards ceased fire and looked up at the RC helicopter in confusion. The helicopter dropped a device onto the ground by all of the guards. Before they could do anything, the device exploded and green smoke enveloped the guards. When the smoke cleared away, the guards were asleep. Carmelita smiled. She ran back to Sly and led him downstairs. It wasn't long before they reached the door to the outside of the building. Carmelita brought her binocucom out and brought it up to her face.

"We're almost out," she said. "Get ready for pickup."

"_Got it,"_ came Bentley's reply.

Sly and Carmelita stepped outside into the night and waited. They could hear police sirens in the distance. They had to hurry, or the Cooper Gang could get arrested. Suddenly, a large blue van came racing down the streets. It stopped next to Sly and Carmelita.

"Hurry up! Get in!" Murray said.

Sly and Carmelita ran around to the back. Penelope opened the doors and they got in. As soon as they were inside, Murray stepped on the gas and sped off.

"Okay Sly. Where were you shot?" Bentley said immediately. Sly pointed at the gunshot wound on his arm. Bentley inspected it. "You're lucky. The bullet went completely through. That'll save you some pain."

"Good," Sly said, "because I think I've taken all the pain I can bear for one day."

"I saw what they did to you," Bentley said. "Those sick freaks!" Sly merely nodded.

"Well, it's over now."

"Not necessarily," Carmelita said. "What about that other guy? The one who tortured you? I didn't see him at all in there."

"Maybe he bailed once he saw that there was an intruder," Penelope suggested.

"Maybe," Carmelita agreed. "I can't believe it. All that, for money. I always thought criminals were stupid but..."

"They weren't after just money," Sly interrupted. All heads, except for Murray's obviously, turned towards him.

"What do you mean Sly?" Bentley asked, as he dabbed hydrogen peroxide on Sly's arm.

"Marakov seemed to think there was something more than just money in my family vault. What it was though, I have no clue."

"Something besides money? You think he might have been talking about one of those machines in the Inner Sanctum?" Bentley asked. He finished cleaning the wound up and wrapped a bandage around Sly's arm.

"No, I don't think so. It's gotta be something that's hidden in the vault. And if that's the case, it's probably still on Kaine Island. I don't suppose you two found anything besides money in there when you re-located the vault did you?" He turned towards Penelope and Bentley.

"No," Penelope answered. "Nothing. Maybe we overlooked something?"

"It's possible," Bentley said.

"Sly I don't think you should worry about it too much," Carmelita said. "Marakov is probably being taken to the station now. We can interrogate him about that later. Also, there's still that badger to take care of." Sly nodded.

"You're right." He sighed. "Is it safe to go back to the apartment? I need some sleep."

"Not yet," Bentley said. "There's someone on the loose who was after your cane. He surely knows about your escape. He'll probably stake your apartment out." Sly suddenly gasped as he realized something.

"Bentley, they know where the safe house is."

"WHAT?!" Carmelita nodded.

"You guys need to get a new safe house as soon as possible. They know the cane is there as well." She looked over at Sly, who hung his head in shame.

"You told them?" Penelope asked him.

"He was going to kill Carmelita. I had to." Sly avoided the gaze of his friends. Bentley thought for a moment.

"We'll have to get everything out of the house tonight. I do have another safe house in mind. I always keep a back up in case something happens that forces us to change safe houses." Sly smiled.

"Always thinking ahead aren't you?" Bentley grinned.

--

_Hmm, a bit of a short chapter I suppose. Oh well. I like how it came out. Much better than my last chapter._

_Only one more chapter (I think) to go until this fic is done! And then, it's on to the sequel. Yes, I know what you're thinking. I know there are plenty of unanswered questions, but fear not! Everything will be explained in the sequel! I promise!_

_Until next chapter folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


	10. Chapter 10: Now What?

_Ugh, finally got this posted. I'm really sorry about the wait on this one._

_Well, here it is. The last chapter of Confession._

_--_

**Chapter 10: What Now?**

Carmelita slowly opened her eyes. She had awoken in a motel room close to Bentley's safe house. The sunlight shone through the curtains of the window in the room. There wasn't enough time to haul all of their belongings out of the house, so the gang decided to stay at a motel for a few days until things calmed down. However, Sly made sure to grab the cane out of the house before they left.

Carmelita looked on the other side of the bed where Sly was. She smiled as she looked at his sleeping form. She looked over to the clock on the nightstand. It was almost noon. She cursed to herself. She was late for work. Although, somehow she thought that the Chief wouldn't be too harsh on her. She was able to arrest Phillip Marakov after all. She got out of bed slowly, so she wouldn't wake Sly. She walked over to her duffel bag and started to change into her normal clothes. There wasn't enough time for a shower. She was already late. Suddenly she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. She brought out the device and brought it up to her face.

"Fox here."

_"Carmelita, it's me,"_ came the Chief's voice. She sighed.

"I'm sorry I'm late sir. I overslept."

_"Don't apologize,"_ he answered. _"I don't care that you're late. Hell you don't even have to come in today if you don't want to. You deserve it. You were able to finally arrest one of our most wanted criminals."_ Carmelita breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you sir, but I am coming in today. I want Marakov to be ready for interrogation by the time I get there."

_"Why? We already have enough evidence to jail him for good."_ Carmelita wondered if she should tell him the whole story. She decided it was best to leave him out of the loop, for now.

"I need to know the real reason why Marakov took Sly."

_"We already know Carmelita,"_ the Chief said._ "He wanted Sly's cane didn't he?"_ So, the old man did know. Carmelita shrugged to herself. She figured that as long as Sly doesn't use his cane for crime, the Chief wouldn't arrest him or kick him off the force.

"Yes, but that's not the whole story. You know of the Cooper Vault yes?"

_"Of course. I read about it in your report of Kaine Island."_

"Well, it seems that there was something in there that Marakov wanted. Something other than money." The Chief paused to think for a moment.

_"Well, I can't think of anything else he would have wanted. You think he'll tell you?"_

"Maybe, maybe not. Can't know until I ask him right?"

_"I guess so. How's Sly?"_

"Sleeping," Carmelita answered. "I imagine he'll be hurting once he wakes up. You should have seen what the bastards did to him."

_"Shouldn't he go to the hospital? He was shot wasn't he?"_

"Yes, but the wound has already been cleaned up. I'm more worried about the rest of him."

_"Is he going to be okay?"_

"Don't worry. He's in good care."

_"Okay. When he wakes up, let him know that he has the week off to recover. Understand?"_

"Yes sir."

_"Okay. I'll see you sometime today then."_

"I'll be there in about a half an hour. Good-bye sir."

_"Good-bye."_

Carmelita snapped her phone shut. She walked over to the bed and sat down. She was extremely tired. Not surprising, considering what she had been through the night before. Suddenly, she was pulled down onto the bed. She squealed in surprise. She found herself looking into the deep brown eyes of a grey raccoon.

"Morning gorgeous." Sly had his trademark smirk on his face. He leaned in and kissed her.

"Morning," she mumbled through the kiss. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was electrocuted for a full day and then shot in the arm," he answered while grinning. Carmelita chuckled.

"Are you going to be okay here with the others?" She motioned towards Murray, who was sleeping on the other bed. Bentley and Penelope were in another room. "I'm going to work to see if I can find anything out from Marakov."

"I'll be fine," Sly reassured her. "Do you think anyone was able to find the other guy? Carson?" Carmelita shook her head.

"I don't think so. The Chief would have told me while I was on the phone with him earlier."

"Damn it," Sly said.

"Don't worry. He'll turn up eventually." Carmelita sat up on the bed. "Besides, we have much more to worry about than Carson." Sly raised an eyebrow.

"Like?"

"Like our wedding? That, and the fact that I need to let my family know that I'm marrying you." Sly's face fell.

"Oh great. I'm sure they'll take the news well," he said sarcastically. "Aren't they all in law enforcement?"

"Not my sister. She's the manager of a restaurant somewhere in Spain. I'll get her on our side before I break the news to my parents."

"Are we going to visit them?"

"Well, yes." Sly sighed. This wasn't going to end well.

"Alright, I'll go."

"Thank you. By the way, the Chief says you have the entire week off to recover." He smiled.

"Tell him thanks for me." She kissed Sly.

"Well, I'm off to find out what the hell Marakov was after."

"Okay. Make sure you call me as soon as you find out."

"Of course. Bye. Love ya!"

"I love you too beautiful." Sly smiled as he watched Carmelita walk out the door. He laid back down onto the bed. He was too tired to get out, and he was still in a lot of pain from the hell he had been through the day before. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep, not knowing what was going to happen next.

-

A figure was walking on the sidewalk. It was Carson. Jacob Carson. He was able to avoid being arrested for now, but he didn't know how long his luck would last. He wore a large hat and he kept his collar up. Every once in a while he would look around him, making sure no one was watching him. Suddenly, he saw a police cruiser turn onto the street he was walking on. Before he could be spotted, the figure ran quickly into an alley and hid there, watching the cruiser go by. He sighed in relief and continued walking.

"That freaking idiot," he muttered to himself. He knew it was a bad idea to stay once the woman showed up. He knew that the police would come soon after. But no. He just couldn't convince Marakov to leave. Carson booked it soon after the alarms went off in the warehouse. Once he saw that it was Carmelita, he knew that it wasn't a good idea to stay there. Carson thought about his next move. What now? He didn't have the cane, and he didn't know where it was. Marakov probably knew, but he's in jail now. If he wanted to get into the Cooper Vault, he needed his partner. He knew exactly what he had to do, but he didn't know how to go about doing it. He would need a few days to draw up a plan.

_"You may have won this round Cooper," _Carson thought._ "That doesn't mean that this is over. I will get my hands on your money. No matter what it takes!"_

_--_

_And that's it! The last chapter of Confession! I finished my first fanfic! I'm so proud. sniff_

_Yes, I know. This chapter was extremely short. I'm really sorry that you all waited so long just for that short little chapter, but I'm going to make it up to you. How?_

_By giving you a preview to one of the chapters in the sequel to this story!_

_Yes, that's right! I'm going to actually give you a preview to one of the later chapters in the story. Don't worry, it won't give too much away. Hopefully it will make up for my tardiness though._

_Anyways, enjoy this preview of my next fic, which is entitled Secret of the Coopers._

_--_

Sly looked around as the elevator lowered further into the Cooper Vault. Aside from a few cracks on the walls and some debris on the floor, it looked the same as it did the last time he saw it. It was a large circular room, with statues resembling the Cooper logo going around the center floor. The door that led further into the vault was left open. In front of it, there was a makeshift bridge that led from the platform they were standing on up to the door. Sly looked at the bridge in confusion.

"He does want us to follow him," he said. The others looked at him. "First, he leaves the door to the vault open. Now, he leaves a bridge leading up to the door for us to use? I would have been able to get through fine without it, but it seems like he wants all of us to follow him."

"He must think he has something up his sleeve," Carmelita noted. Sly nodded in agreement.

"Still, I think it's best that we stay on our toes," Bentley said. "Who knows what he could be planning?"

"Right," Sly said. They walked up to the makeshift bridge. Sly slowly walked across it first to make sure it was stable enough for the others to cross. It was a little shaky, but it should be fine. "Okay. The bridge is a little unstable, but it should be fine as long as we all go one at a time." Everyone nodded. After a few minutes of careful walking, everyone was standing before the door into the first section of the Cooper Vault. They walked through the threshold.

This was where Slytankhamen II's section of the vault was, before Bentley and Penelope re-located everything. Aside from a few gold coins lying on the ground, there was nothing left. You could just faintly see where the painting of Slytankhamen used to be. Sly walked past the section and looked out into the large obstacle course that was built throughout the vault. He shook his head.

"I don't get it," he said. "There's no way they would be able to get through this. Where are they?" There was no sign that Marakov had gone on.

"I don't know," Carmelita said. "Maybe they're back in the other room?"

"I don't think so," Bentley said. "I didn't see anywhere where they could have hid. What do you think Penelope?" Penelope wasn't listening. She was staring at the wall of the Cooper vault.

"Hmm, there's something about this wall." She brought her hand up to the wall and felt it. It felt strange. Almost like it was painted. It wasn't how a cave wall made of rock should feel like. She knocked on the wall, and was surprised to find that it was hollow. "Bentley! This wall is fake!"

"What?"

Bentley wheeled over to Penelope and inspected the wall. He knocked on it and found that Penelope was right. The wall wasn't made of rock. It was made of some other type of material, but he couldn't figure out what.

"Everyone stand back!" He pressed a button on his wheelchair. An arm came out, and it was carrying a strange looking round device. He quickly wheeled back and pressed another button on his chair. The device exploded. When the dust cleared away, they found a large hole in the wall that led into another room.

"Holy... this has to have been what Marakov was talking about!," Sly said excitedly. He quickly ran inside. As soon as he was in, he stopped short. His jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"What in the hell...?"

_--_

_And that's all you'll see of the sequel. Until I post the first chapter of course! I know. I left you guys hanging with a cliffhanger. I'm evil. But what did you expect? That I would give away something that huge before the sequel was even started? Hells naw! :P_

_Well, my first fanfic is finally finished! I can't believe I did it! I never thought for a second that I'd be able to finish this story. I thought that I would somehow come across some kind of road block and I would end up abandoning the story. Well, I didn't. That's a good thing._

_Now. I know this isn't the best thing to do after being so late with this chapter, but here's what's going to happen. I need like, a week or so off from writing. I think I've deserved it. I mean I wrote this whole thing in less than a month! Something I never thought I would do. I'll be back sometime in October with my next fanfic. Keep browsing for my next Sly Cooper fic; Secret of the Coopers!_

_Oh, and please. Send some reviews my way! Now that the story is over, I wanna know how you guys liked it. I love reviews! :)_

_Until next cha... err... fic folks!_

_-eaglefan101_


End file.
